White Sox 2026 MLB Draft Day 2 recap

The White Sox hadn't held the first overall pick in nearly 40 years, and when they selected Harold Baines at No. 1 back in 1977, he didn't even have representation until Roland Hemond called him the night before. So it's fair to call the 2026 draft the most anticipated one in White Sox history.

And just like that, it's already in the past, with the White Sox making 20 picks across Friday and Saturday after selecting wire-to-wire favorite Roch Cholowsky to kick it all off.

"Seriously, it's truly been unbelievable," scouting director Mike Shirley said on Sunday. "To have the first pick, experience it from start to finish, understand what that's been like. You understand the staff, how we had to deliver. There's no excuses in professional baseball. You have to deliver, right? I understand the scrutiny that comes with the job and did you pick the right player, and everybody has an opinion. I think that's the best part: everybody gets a choice, everybody has an opinion. But to be able to execute it, for Roch Cholowsky to show up today and talk the way he speaks what he believes, fortifies the decision."

The second day of the draft echoed themes Shirley expressed after the first, where the picks are reflective of directors of various departments all helping scouts to drill down on players whose toolboxes and skill sets they have notions toward rounding out. In this case, just about all the bats pack power with the idea that the hitting infrastructure under Ryan Fuller can close some gaps, while the pitchers all possess at least one unique trait that can be developed into a strength.

After selecting Cholowsky, Landon Thome, Cole Prosek, Joey Volchko and Eric Segura on Day 1, here's how the final 16 picks over Day 2 unfolded:

Fifth round (137): Cal Scolari, RHP, Oregon

Ranks: BA: 193 | MLB: 192

Scolari is a 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound low-slot righty with a walk rate that introduces doubt as to his long-term role, but Shirley said the White Sox selected him as a starter, and he'll require a signing bonus slightly over slot. Burke Granger of D1 Baseball called Scolari one of his favorite Day 2 picks while providing this quick scouting report.

"We think Scolari’s definitely a starter, has been a Friday guy at Oregon. Been a pretty good piece of the puzzle, that’s definitely something we can believe in," Shirley said.

"There were multiple pieces, multiple people in the room that really believed. We had some tough choices to kick the day off, when we were exhaustive with our search and how we wanted to start our day and we did settle on Scolari."

Sixth round (166): Alex Weingartner, OF, St. Augustine Prep HS (NJ)

Ranks: Sox Machine: 138 | BA: 208 | ESPN: 86 | MLB: 154

Weingartner was a true two-way player in high school and an athletic freak. Baseball America tagged him with 80 speed and 70 arm and plus bat speed, and Shirley said it all played up at the combine. He's the biggest project of the entire class, but it should be fascinating to follow.

Seventh round (195): Clay Burdette, OF, Xavier

Ranks: MLB: 248

It's always interesting when a player makes a top-250 list without making BA's top 500, but Burdette, a 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound right fielder, threads that needle. He's a product of Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, which is famous for producing a host of major leaguers including Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Larkin and Buddy and David Bell, but Burdette started at Ohio State before finding a home in Xavier and becoming the Musketeers' highest-drafted position player. He fits the emphasis on power, slugging .701 in his final collegiate season and posting big exit velocities, and he has the athleticism to try center field. But plate discipline concerns were present against Big East pitching, so there's the rub.

Eighth round (225): Jayson Jones, 3B, Wichita State

Jones hit .355/.430/.583 over 58 games with Wichita State, his third school over a four-year college career. He hit 15 homers but just seven doubles over 58 games, which suggests a lot of pull-side power.

Ninth round (255): Luke Craytor, RHP, Virginia Tech

The first reliever signing of the class, Crayton is a 6-foot-5-inch senior who's built up his arm into the high-90s and cut his walk rate to make himself a useful ACC bullpen arm by the end of his career with the Hokies.

10th round (285): Matthew Bucciero, OF, Fairfield

"Always shout out to Connecticut," Birmingham Barons hitting coach Aaron Hill told me earlier this year when talking about New Haven native Anthony DePino. Connecticut is where Hill hails from, as does Ryan Fuller, so that's what first jumps out about Bucciero, who hit .327/.453/.688 with 20 homers in 53 games while winning MAAC Player of the Year, but struck out 16 times over 26 plate appearances for Trenton in the MLB Draft League.

11th round (315): Kyle Casteel, RHP, Butler HS (PA)

Ranks: BA: 252 | MLB: 162 | ESPN: 191

Casteel kicks off the portion of the draft where every player can be signed for $150,000, and only the overage counts against the draft pool, and this was a considered choice. Casteel is a projectable righty with low-90s velocity and promising shapes to his slider and changeup, and his high school pitching coach is former big leaguer Matt Clement.

"I feel good about the security of the three pitches," Shirley said. "What’s the effort level, he does it really easy, the arm looks clean, the direction and the delivery work right. His ability to constantly navigate the strike zone, it’s fastball command, it’s the ability to go up and down, north and south with the breaking ball he lands, he understands quadrants with his fastball. And then the change-up has got the chance to neutralize left-handers."

Shirley once again reiterated the emphasis on collaboration, even starting the back half of the draft.

"When you’re going to pay the type of money we paid for a high school pitcher in that section of the draft, you want to feel like he has the attributes to work, [Brian Bannister] gave his stamp of approval on it, he became a target. There was a tough decision, there was another player we were considering doing, Chris was involved with this decision, to finalize was it going to be a position player or a pitcher, and we were exhaustive with it. A lot of conversations leading up to the decision. And that’s what I mean - Chris, Josh [Barfield], all the AGMs, Carlos [Rodriguez] got involved in the decisions. We just decided to go with the pitcher."

12th round (345): Braden Holcomb, OF, Vanderbilt

Ranks: BA: 212 | MLB: 226 | ESPN: 189

I've seen Holcomb at Vandy while tagging along with Josh on his draft coverage, and he reminded me a little of Avisaíl García in terms of sneaky speed for his size, and a big right-handed swing, but he doesn't have the same bat-to-ball ability. He hit .352/.434/.621, but there's swing-and-miss in his game, as evidenced by 63 strikeouts against 35 walks over 58 games.

"He can hit it out of sight and he actually runs pretty good. We believe in the Vanderbilt pedigree. I do think that the power can function in both directions, from opposite gap to pull gap. We’ll see what he can do," Shirley said.

13th round (375): Grayson Fitzwater, 1B, VMI

Ranks: BA: 294

A four-year starter at VMI, his career culminated in hitting .325/.470/.730 with 21 homers and more walks (50) than strikeouts (41) over 55 games in 2026.

"Yeah, the VMI bat, it was interesting. The area scouts are jumping up and down here in the Zoom call in the room (after taking Fitz)," Shirley said. "They are jumping up and down about the hitter. We really do think he can swing the bat."

14th round (405): Isaac Yeager, RHP, Oregon State

So began a run of big pitchers, starting with Yeager (6'6", 255 pounds), who struck out 49 against 11 walks over 39⅔ innings out of the Beavers bullpen. He's a fastball-slider guy, and Shirley cited high interest from the White Sox's R&D department.

15th round (435): Cameron Johnson, LHP, Oklahoma

Ranks: BA: 184 | MLB: 250

Listed at the same height as Yeager but one pound heavier, Johnson had the arm talent to find a home at two big-time college programs (LSU and Oklahoma), but didn't develop the control to find traction at either one. Shirley referred to him as the "lottery ticket" on the pitching side.

"This guy is one of the power left-handed arms in the game, to be honest with you," he said. "The strikes have been a little bit mischievous for him. He's a big-time prospect out of high school. But we felt like it was worth the risk to take a chance with this."

16th round (465): Darin Horn, RHP, Coastal Carolina

Horn worked hard for the Chanticleers, throwing 67⅓ innings over 31 games out of the bullpen, posting a 3.21 ERA and striking out 93 against 24 walks. His strength is a sinker with some noteworthy movement from a sidearmed slot.

17th round (495): Crew McChesney, OF, BYU

With a first name like "Crew," you best believe he's from Utah. He's another project, with Shirley citing a big power and speed combination, but 51 strikeouts against 12 walks over 181 plate appearances hints at the amount of work to be done.

18th round (525): Jackson Bergman, LHP, Indiana

Bergman only pitched three games and 14 innings for the Hoosiers before undergoing the internal brace procedure on his UCL. He'd been unremarkable at Toledo the three seasons before, but Shirley said the stuff was ticking up before the injury.

19th round (555): Jake Berkland, SS, Minnesota State

Part of me thinks the Sox meant to take Berkland in the 18th round but drafted Bergman by mistake, and are hoping nobody noticed. He's a small-school scrapper, standing 5'9" and 155 pounds and hitting .366/.507/.614 with a 7.4 percent strikeout rate and 22 steals in 25 attempts while playing four positions. Berkland was on the verge of transferring to Kansas before the Sox swooped in.

20th round (585): Connor Fennell, RHP, Vanderbilt

Ranks: BA: 274

I saw Fennell pitch for Vandy against LSU in the same series I saw Holcomb, where he stood out for his outsized intensity, if not his stuff. It doesn't sound like he's going to sign, or if he does, it's because something went awry elsewhere.

"Connor Fennell, an insurance policy shall we say," Shirley said. "There are always medical MRIs, things you need to do to secure contracts. So Connor is a little bit of an insurance policy. We tried all day to secure his services. The financial demands are a little bit out of our pool space right now. A reward in case something bad happens on the medical front."