Will UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky go #1 to the Chicago White Sox?
Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman break down the prospect profile of UCLA SS Roch Cholowsky. Could the two-time Big Ten player of the year be selected by the Chicago White Sox in next week's 2026 MLB Draft?
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Video Transcript
Jordan, what is the likelihood that Rock Chalowski goes number one to the White Sox, and what would make him the pick there?
What is special about Chalowski?
Yeah, a- and I think that he's someone, I mean, not just last year or the past year, really the last two years, he was already a fringe first-round talent coming out of high school.
Son of a scout, who I think is still scouting, with the Reds, I believe.
Arizona High School, but he says, "No, I'm going to UCLA because, you know what's better than being a first rounder is being the first overall pick."
And what he was able to do as a Bruin, particularly his sophomore season, was, was just really special, and to lead them to Omaha as a sophomore.
This year as a junior ends up being a little bit more disappointing.
His numbers don't really take another leap forward.
They are merely very good against Big Ten competition that is considered a pretty sizable step down from the likes of certainly the SEC, but even the ACC.
And yet, and UCLA, who's the number one team all year, ends up flaming out in the regionals, so that's a little bit disappointing.
But what this guy offers is a really incredibly just He's good at everything.
I mean, it's that simple, right?
I mean, this is someone who has shown the ability to hit for average, the ability to get on base, the ability to lift the ball, which is also i- important.
He's getting to his power.
It is not something like this is not someone that is just hitting the ball really hard into the ground, like, as as a which was a concern for someone like Dylan Crews- Yeah who had a lot of similar profile, a lot of the similar profile going into his draft year.
And he's a damn good shortstop, and when you combine all that with someone that from a makeup standpoint is pretty much exactly what you want to be signing up for in terms of just him growing up, not just necessarily around the game like he's going through big league clubhouses, but this is someone who just change- not that UCLA hadn't had success in the past, but they were in a low place when he sort of got there in his freshman year.
He brought them back.
And he said- He brought them back to what they- He said, "Listen"- what they used to be he said, "Hop on," right?
Him and that junior class said, "We're bringing UCLA b- back to glory."
Sure, it was disappointing how it ended this, this past spring, but, he's someone that, he checks all the boxes of like, yes, this guy can be the face of a franchise, can handle that- Yeah can embrace that, and can just be a damn good, damn good baseball player at a really important position at shortstop.
Now, the ceiling might not be there with Chalowski.
It's hard to see him being one of the best 10 players in the world.
It's very easy to see him being one of the best 100 players in the world.
The comp that gets thrown out there a lot is Dansby Swanson, where you have a high, college shortstop with a high floor who has some of those off-the-field attributes that you're looking for.
The downside with Chalowski, a- at least for me, is like he's not built like a typical shortstop.
He's a little bit thicker in the hips, which is admittedly an odd thing to say about someone, but it is relevant when you're evaluating them, as an athlete.
He's a good athlete.
He's not like a superb athlete.
He's certainly not as good of an athlete as some of the other names at the top of this draft like, you know, Jacob Lombor- Jacob Lombard or even Vaughn Lackey, but he just, he is good at baseball, right?
He is a good- Yeah baseball player, and I think- Yeah that in, that is both too simple and also tells the story.
