One Clear Theme Defined White Sox 2026 MLB Draft Class
The Chicago White Sox prioritized power throughout the 2026 MLB Draft, targeting high-upside hitters and pitchers with electric arms.
Video Transcript
Sam Phelan here with the White Sox Roundtable on the heels of the two thousand twenty-six MLB draft.
The White Sox draft class is complete, and it was a pretty great draft for the White Sox, a draft class that has evaluators like Jim Callis saying he's blown away with what the White Sox were able to do.
Now, of course, Chicago had the number one pick in the draft.
They also had the largest bonus pool in the draft.
That's the ability to draft the best player, Rok Chalowski, and the most financial flexibility to get all the players that you covet.
So the White Sox had a lot of ammunition, but they did put it to good use.
They, went out, got Rok Chalowski.
They grabbed some of the top high school bats in the draft.
They prioritized college pitching late.
And as all twenty-one picks came in and the names were read, it sort of became clear that the White Sox had a clear theme in their twenty twenty-six draft class.
Power.
Power bats, power pitching, the hitters that they went for, a lot of college hitters.
Power was the loud tool, guys who can drive the baseball.
Swing and miss, a concern with a lot of them.
Defense may be a concern with some of them, but the power was not in doubt for any of the guys that they drafted.
And on the pitching side, it's a lot of big swing and miss stuff.
They have a lot of pitchers in this draft class who, might need to harness their control a little bit to stick in the rotation or to have a productive career.
A lot of guys that don't throw strikes really, but the power and the stuff is undeniable.
Even just in like the physical stature, the White Sox drafted three pitchers, I believe, over six foot six.
So it's clear that the tools were something that the White Sox are betting on as they continue to gamble that their player development staff is going to be able to refine these things.
Offensively, Landon Tomey, Cole Prosek, two of the best high school hitters in the draft.
Then they went out and got Alex Winegardner in the sixth round.
More of an upside swing, less of a refined hitter.
He's not on that same level as Tomey or Prosek, but Winegardner did post three exit velocities of one hundred and six at the MLB Draft Combine and hit a four hundred forty-two foot home run to center field in a big league park.
Jim Callis had s- said that seventy grade raw power is what Jason Jones out of Wichita State has.
Clay Burdett hit seventeen home runs with an eleven forty OPS at Xavier in twenty twenty-six.
Matthew Bucciero, twenty twenty.
Vanderbilt's Braden Holcomb, six foot five, two hundred forty-five pounds.
This guy looks like a middle linebacker with real pop in the bat.
On the pitching side of things, Joey Volchko in the third round has a fastball that touches a hundred and one.
It's more of a cut fastball, but he pairs it with a slider really well that gives him a floor as a relief pitcher if it doesn't work out in the rotation.
High school righty Kyle Casteel tops out at ninety-five, but he's six foot four, still growing, still filling out his frame, and evaluators believe there's plenty more velocity to come.
A director of scouting, Mike Shirley, described Oklahoma left-handed pitcher Cameron Johnson as the lottery ticket of the draft.
Johnson, six foot six, two fifty-five, sinker that touches ninety-nine, heavy movement.
He has, very little command, which is why he was available in the fifteenth round.
But you see what the White Sox are taking a, a shot in the dark on here.
Even Darren Horn out of Coastal Carolina recorded twelve point four Ks per nine in twenty twenty-six, led NCAA in sinker whiff rate and in-zone whiff rate back in twenty twenty-five.
This has been the MO of this new White Sox regime as Chris Getz brings in guys from other organizations.
They've been better at player b- development.
They've been better at identifying traits that they can get value out of.
You've seen that paying dividends even on the big league roster.
And I think a lot of these picks are reflections of the big league team, either the needs or what has worked.
Sean Burke, power arm, has been developed, has worked on many different things in each year of his career so far, starting to look like a frontline guy.
Grant Taylor anchoring a bullpen that doesn't have many high-end, high-leverage relievers.
Even if he doesn't pitch to his starting pitching ceiling, Taylor is a very valuable piece of the White Sox.
And offensively, it's the power.
They're fourth in baseball in home runs this year, even after missing Munetaka Murakami for over a month, and their ability to drive the ball out of the ballpark has been the savior for the White Sox at many times when they've gone cold.
Dating back to this past offseason, the players the White Sox targeted, guys with big exit velocities, big, great bat speed, high exit velocities, and, yeah, maybe some swing and miss, but the power has been undeniable.
It's hard really not to be excited about what the White Sox did in the twenty twenty-six draft.
They acted with purpose, they had a clear theme, and they came away with a number of players who I think we're gonna start to see make noise very quickly here after signing contracts to turn pro.
