2026 MLB Draft Report: Rethinking college bats and a first look at Jack Slightom

Keith Law’s first 2026 MLB mock draft for The Athletic projects the Chicago White Sox to select Grady Emerson first overall. The pick is bold, but early signals are uncertain, and the White Sox remain linked to Emerson and Jacob Lombard through persistent industry chatter. In his Q&A chat, Law wrote that Roch Cholowsky is still his No. 1 prospect and he wouldn't take either Emerson or Lombard over the top three college players (Cholowsky, Vahn Lackey, and Jackson Flora).

If you read last week’s 2026 MLB Draft Report, I wrote about The Ceiling Play as a possible reason for Bob Nightengale’s column notes regarding the White Sox’s uncertainty about Cholowsky as the first overall pick. To gather further insight, I’ve spent the past few weeks watching top Illinois prep players in action, taking photos and videos with MLB scouts, and eavesdropping on their conversations.

The number of MLB scouts lamenting this year’s college hitter class is eye-opening. In Tuesday’s game at Lyons Township, where James Fegan tagged along with me, we both heard a scout behind us say this year’s college class is “mid.” Listen to the MLB Pipeline podcast with Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, and they are starting to question what we are watching this college season.

Building on these concerns, this year’s draft-eligible college hitters are collectively a bit lacking. In the top-10 college leaderboard for OPS, there are only two juniors: Oklahoma State outfielder Kollin Ritchie and Kansas State shortstop Dee Kennedy.

Drilling down into the power numbers, for home runs among 2026 MLB draft-eligible hitters in the top 10, the names are Ritchie, Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, Texas A&M outfielder Caden Sorrell, and SIU Edwardsville first baseman Ryan Niedzwiedz. Apart from Niedzwiedz, the other three top home run hitters have strikeout rates north of 20 percent, a metric that gives MLB teams pause about using a first-round pick.

Looking at other advanced metrics, Ritchie is the only junior ranked in the top 10 in wRC+. College hitters were expected to be this draft class's greatest strength, but their collective performance is not meeting those expectations. As a voter for the Dick Howser Award, if the vote were tomorrow, my ballot would be filled with a lot of sophomores.

​Summing up these trends, I agree with Law that this draft class is worse than expected in February. In his mock draft posted Thursday night, Callis still has Cholowsky going first overall, but at a much slimmer margin than the preseason, putting odds at 55-60 percent that Cholowsky is the favorite. Furthermore, as Callis shared on his podcast, scouting directors are telling him that how college hitters finish the season will factor into decisions.

In an interview with MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley echoed that sentiment.

“We are trying to decipher through all of this: how they handle the postseason play, how they finish their season. I think that matters. We play the games to win, so there’s a scoreboard and it sure tells a story.” 

Roch Report: Big Ten numbers are not getting better

Roch Cholowsky’s splits against Big Ten pitching have been at the forefront of my mind, and now I wonder if the White Sox are on the same wavelength. In his last 12 conference games (since April 3), Cholowsky has just two extra-base hits: a home run versus USC, and a double against Minnesota. His on-base percentage is now higher than his slugging percentage.

Then something else caught my attention when you broke down Cholowsky’s numbers by day of the week. When covering MLB or MiLB, this is a trivial exercise, but in NCAA baseball, the opposing team’s best starting pitcher always takes the first game. These are typically on Friday.

Thirteen of Cholowsky’s home runs this season have come against an opposing school’s weaker pitchers. In Big Ten conference play, Cholowsky is 8-for-31 (.258 AVG) against Friday night starters with one extra-base hit. That was the mammoth home run he hit against Ohio State on March 6. In his last three Friday night games, Cholowsky has been held hitless against Rutgers, Minnesota, and Michigan State.

UCLA has been so damn good this season that they haven’t needed Cholowsky to be great. They are still undefeated in Big Ten play at 24-0 and have two more conference series to wrap up the regular season against Oregon and Washington. Then it will be the Big Ten Conference Tournament in Omaha, which I will be covering for us at Sox Machine.

It would be wonderful if Cholowsky got himself right and went on a heater these next two weeks to leave no doubt about which direction the White Sox should go with the first overall pick. But with how he’s been hitting against conference opponents, Cholowsky has allowed the door to be open for second-guessing whether he’s truly the best player available.

First Look: RHP Jack Slightom

In the last year, I’ve stopped checking my Twitter DMs because it’s mostly bots trying to hack my account by clicking links to vote for their podcast in some fake competition. But a few weeks ago, as I was clearing my DM inbox, I came across an actual person whom I’ve met many times at White Sox games and who teaches at Lyons Township High School. He told me I should come out and watch their pitcher, Jack Slightom.

Slightom doesn’t have much of a Perfect Game profile. He pitched for the Cincinnati Reds Scout Team in PG’s WWBA World Championship tournament last October, and his fastball was clocked at 95 mph. I figured that with a draft class short on premium pitching prospects, it would be worth the drive to watch Slightom. With so little hype, I was thinking that maybe he could be a good fifth-round target with a decent signing bonus to lure him away from his commitment to Cincinnati.

In their recent Top 150 MLB Draft update, MLB Pipeline has Slightom ranked No. 125, and Baseball America lists him at No. 197 with very little intel.

This past Tuesday, I asked James if he wanted to tag along and help track velocities with his Pocket Radar. For a while, I was worried we’d miss the game sitting on I-55 for more than an hour due to an accident. Lucky for us, the opposing team also showed up late for game time.

When I’ve seen Landon Thome play this season, there’s been a pocket of scouts. Watching Ethan Bass (more on him later), I’ve been chilling beside them by the fence along the first-base line. But Slightom had a crowd behind home plate with several teams represented, including White Sox assistant director of amateur scouting Garrett Guest. The tip from Twitter proved to be very useful.

Slightom is 6’4” and 205 pounds, but he hasn't maxed out his body frame. His delivery is in two stages: He takes a first step, pauses, and then begins his throwing motion. During his start against Proviso West, I was impressed with how consistent Slightom was with his delivery.

The quality of competition was quite lacking. No offense to Proviso West, but in 21 games this season, they have only scored 32 runs. Slightom wasn’t challenged at the slightest as he struck out 13 of the 16 batters faced.

What I liked about Slightom is his good command of his fastball. He consistently hits his target on the outside corner. A few of his sliders got away from his hanging up in the zone, but there were a few that Slightom was able to hit the outside corner against righties well.

It’s far from a polished prep profile, but Slightom is a worthwhile project. There are tools to work with already hitting up to 95 MPH with his fastball, and mostly sitting at 92 MPH. Obviously, Slightom has interest from other MLB teams and is worth a second look later this month, especially in the postseason, which is more likely to show how Slightom looks in the stretch and handles pressure with runners on base. For now, I side with MLB Pipeline’s ranking, which puts him comfortably in the top 150 and makes him a possible $1 million or more signee.

Second Look: Ethan Bass

On Monday, I traveled up to Northbrook to get a second look at Ethan Bass. It was not a good top of the first inning for Glenbrook North as they allowed seven runs to Evanston. Before Bass took an at-bat, his team was in a big hole.

I counted nine scouts in attendance, which ended up being a shortened game due to the weather. Before the storms rolled in, Bass once again flashed the power by driving a high fastball out for a two-run homer. He does a good job of pulling his hips through the zone and driving through the baseball. The more I see Bass' swing, the more I like it.

Defensively, I just haven’t seen Bass make any plays like Grady Emerson or Landon Thome. I’m not sure if it’s a positioning issue, but Bass in the two games I’ve watched is chasing shallow flies or grounders hit through the infield. During warmups, he looks composed at shortstop, but I’m still waiting to see what his defense looks like in game action.

MLB Draft Notes

• UCLA right-handed pitcher Logan Reddemann might miss the final two regular season series against Oregon and Washington as he recovers from arm fatigue. The Bruins are hopeful that Reddemann will be close to full strength.
• Even though the strikeout rate is a bit scary, Daniel Jackson from Georgia is worth tracking. He has an honest shot of being a 30/30 player this season (currently at 23 homers and 26 stolen bases) while playing catcher. Now, Jackson has played in the outfield with the Bulldogs. For a White Sox team that could use more outfield depth in their farm system, I wonder if Jackson is still on the board at pick 41 if he’s in play. 

NCBWA Top 25 Rankings

Games I’m watching this weekend

No. 15 Oregon at No. 1 UCLA

Friday, May 8 - 9:00 PM CT on Big Ten Network

Saturday, May 9 - 8:30 PM CT on Big Ten Network

Sunday, May 10 - 2:00 PM CT on B1G+