Following up: In review(s), White Sox capitalized on advantages in 2026 MLB draft

Amid all the fun little details in Jesse Rogers' story from inside the White Sox's discussions about the No. 1 draft pick, Chris Getz inadvertently laid to rest the idea that he actually believed Luisangel Acuña was a switch-hitter.

Late in the piece, Rogers gets to the negotiations between Getz and Joel Wolfe, who happens to be the agent for both Roch Cholowsky and Grady Emerson. By that point, the White Sox -- spoiler alert -- have decided on Cholowsky, but have to get the right price. That takes a while, both because San Francisco's interest in Cholowsky gives him a little extra material, and the fact that the White Sox traded Jacob Gonzalez to Pittsburgh to obtain an extra draft pick and even more pool money, changing the parameters within which the White Sox could negotiate.

The trade came together on Friday night, which pushed the conversation with Wolfe until Saturday morning, and that's when Getz puts his stamp on it.

Wolfe was already in Philadelphia for the draft, which is an hour ahead of Chicago.

"I was waiting for the call," Wolfe said. "Actually, when he started the call, he said he was ready to finish the deal with Grady. I was like 'What?' He misspoke. We got it done."

Getz tends to do this, but it's more endearing than concerning now that he's leading a surprising first-place team, rather than trading the last cornerstone of a failed rebuild for whatever he could get after a third consecutive 100-loss season. As Josh Barfield put it back in the spring, "He misspoke, but in typical Getzy fashion, he kind of lets it roll off his back and keep going."

That's not nearly the most important item from the piece, but it's the easiest to sum up without overquoting and getting into fair use issues. Even if you set aside whether those in the room were conscious of Rogers' presence when speaking, you still get a strong sense of the factors they identified in the Cholowsky/Emerson debate, the ways they weighed Cholowsky's college experience versus Emerson's theoretically more moldable age, as well as a more defined idea of Matt Grabowski, the team's director of acquisitions, as his name and department are being cited increasingly frequently in the team's decision-making.

One thing that's fair to wonder is whether or how discussions with Cholowsky might have proceeded differently if he didn't happen to pick Braden Montgomery's debut as the game to drop in on for a secret visit. The team's dugout has been likened to a college atmosphere, and it sounds like that made a largely unknown operation a lot more relatable in just a little bit of time.

"There was a little bit of uneasiness I think from [Cholowsky's] camp, from him. 'Chicago, I've never been there before. White Sox, I know they haven't been very good.' But the more he got to know us and when he came to Chicago, spent time with Ryan [Fuller] and experienced a pretty special day with Braden's debut and walk-off."

"Man, now he is f----ing all-in on this place," Getz continued. "So, how much does that matter? I don't know, but it is kind of a cool thing to develop."

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Given the White Sox's record draft pool, it was a little odd that they still drafted Vanderbilt righty Connor Fennell in the 20th round as an insurance policy than somebody to sign. We last saw the White Sox do this with prep first baseman Myles Bailey back in 2024, but that seemed to stem from Mike Shirley's frustrations navigating the NIL market. (The Cubs drafted Bailey this year with their comp pick for losing Kyle Tucker after the second round, 75th overall).

This time around, the White Sox had to make special considerations for 11th-round high school pitcher Kyle Casteel.

The last 10 picks of draft can sign for $150,000, and whatever goes over counts against the bonus pool, so that's $1.1 million the White Sox had to make available.

This is new territory for the White Sox, who haven't come close to issuing this kind of bonus this late in the draft since it was cut to 20 rounds in 2021.

• 2025: Matthew Boughton, $197,500
• 2024: Pierce George, $197,500
• 2023: Mathias LaCombe, $450,000
• 2022: Jacob Burke, $225,000
• 2021: None over $150,000

In fact, it's the most they've spent on a draft pick after the third round. Prior to this year, the Sox have only twice handed out seven figures from the fourth round onward. Landon Hodge received $1,097,500 in the fourth round last year, and George Wolkow signed for an even $1 million back in 2023. Time will tell if this is a new strategy, or just a way the White Sox wanted to flex the financial muscle while they had it.

⚙️⚙️⚙️

With the White Sox drafting No. 1 overall and possessing the largest bonus pool in league history, you'd expect for them to fare well in all reviews, postmortems, etc., but in looking for specific forms of excitement beyond "most resources marshaled toward highly ranked players," Cole Prosek is keeping the exercise from becoming prosaic.

The second-round pick is what energized Jim Callis during his appearance on 104.3 The Score, as he had Prosek higher his board than Landon Thome, whom the White Sox selected seven picks earlier.

Likewise, in his article identifying a favorite pick for every team, Baseball America's Carlos Collazo also landed on Prosek.

We had just nine players graded with 55-or-better tools in both hitting and power in this year’s class, and Prosek was one of them. Because of that high-level offensive profile, we expected him to go in the first round or quickly thereafter in the comp round. The 41st pick probably qualifies as that range, but to see Prosek be Chicago’s third player picked—after Roch Cholowsky and Landon Thome—was an impressive 1-2-3. 

Keith Law also called Prosek the more advanced hitter of those two prep bats in his review at The Athletic. Of the down-ballot picks, he put out a word for eighth-round senior signing Jayson Jones out of Wichita State:

Third baseman Jayson Jones (8) was a senior at Wichita State, his third school in the last three years, but he’s more than a senior sign. He played a full season for the first time this year and did everything you could ask for, with a .355/.430/.583 line, strong exit velocities and solid or better swing decisions. He’s 22, so the clock is ticking, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him hit the moment he’s in the minors.

⚙️⚙️⚙️

Congratulations to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, who took the first stab at putting every team's draft picks into their top prospect list, including the White Sox. Here's his attempt, which also puts Prosek ahead of Thome.

1. Roch Cholowsky
2. Caleb Bonemer
3. Braden Montgomery
4. Billy Carlson
5. Hagen Smith
6. Tanner McDougal
7. Jaden Fauske
8. Cole Prosek
9. William Bergolla
10. Landon Thome

The White Sox open their draft camp in Charlotte today, and it runs through Sunday, so more of these players should be officially part of the organization in short order.