White Sox select Roch Cholowsky with No. 1 pick in MLB Draft

[p]Cholowsky, 21, is the first-ever Sophomore and first-ever UCLA player to become a Brooks Wallace Award recipient (2025) for best shortstop in college baseball. The now No.1 pick is also coming off back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year Awards (2025-2026).[/p][p]He's currently up for the Golden Spikes Award this year, which will be announced on June 29th, for the best player outright in college baseball. [/p][embed guid="edb6798f-2200-42d3-b01f-47c3d78761f4" url="https://x.com/MLB/status/2075999679880282526?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]In 2025, the Chandler, Arizona native was hailed for his work in the field, winning the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and being awarded a ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove.[/p][p]Cholowsky was also a monster at the plate, batting .320 with a 1.088 OPS, 21 home runs, and 61 RBI. He now joins a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/chicago-white-sox/SW9D1eZo/"]Chicago White Sox[/a] team that has completely turned things around as they're in the middle of an American League Central pennant race.[/p][embed guid="338fde61-bea2-4c51-b4f3-a348681d89ca" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWrPTKekw7w&t=15s" social-type="youtube" /][p]White Sox vice president of amateur scouting Mike Shirley stated earlier in the week that the White Sox had narrowed down their No. 1 pick to three players: Cholowsky, Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey, and Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson[/p][p][b]"It's not about what they are today,"[/b] he said. [b]"It's about what they're going to be two to three years from now when they show up here at the major league level."[/b][/p][p]Colson Montgomery, 24, has been the big bat for the White Sox at shortstop this season. The promising power hitter, much like Cholowsky, has 23 home runs and 58 RBI this season, but with some concern as he boasts just a .218 batting average and .782 OPS. [/p][p]Montgomery himself was selected by the White Sox in the first round (No. 22 overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft. Whether Cholowsky will eventually claim the position from Montgomery or not is for the next several years to decide. [/p][embed guid="fdc1632e-845c-4917-a3d0-300eed479fba" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVs2q2udgl0" social-type="youtube" /]