The White Sox took UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the No. 1 overall pick and didn't waste time making it official. He passed his physical and signed for $10.35 million, a number that doesn't just clear slot value, it obliterates the previous ceiling for what an MLB Draft pick has ever been paid.
No. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky has passed his physical & will sign with @WhiteSox for $10.35 million (slot value = $11,350,600). Shatters @MLBDraft bonus record of $9.3 mil set by Chase Burns & Charlie Condon in 2024. Best all-around college shortstop since Troy Tulowitzki.
For context, the old mark was $9.3 million, set back in 2024 when Chase Burns and Charlie Condon each got that number as top picks. Cholowsky didn't just tie it, he blew past it by more than a million bucks despite going for a shade under his own slot value of $11,350,600. That's the kind of bonus number usually reserved for a generational arm, not a college shortstop.
But Cholowsky isn't your typical college shortstop. He hit .320/.452/.636 with 21 home runs for the Bruins this past season, walking as often as he struck out, and left Westwood as a Golden Spikes finalist and Big Ten Player of the Year. Callis has called him the best all-around college shortstop prospect since Troy Tulowitzki, which is not a name teams throw around lightly.
Roch Cholowsky's $10.35 million bonus from the @WhiteSox eclipses the former @MLBDraft record of $9.3 million set by Chase Burns & Charlie Condon in 2024. Here's a list of the largest bonuses in Draft history:
There's real history behind the pick too. Cholowsky is UCLA's first No. 1 overall selection since the Pirates took Gerrit Cole in 2011, and the first college shortstop to go first overall since Dansby Swanson in 2015. The White Sox reportedly weighed him against Texas prep shortstop Grady Emerson, who went second to Tampa Bay, before deciding Cholowsky's polish and proximity to the majors made him the safer, higher-payoff bet.
That proximity matters more than usual right now. The White Sox are suddenly playing meaningful baseball atop the AL Central, and Cholowsky reportedly got a firsthand look at it when he visited Chicago and watched rookie Braden Montgomery deliver a walk-off homer in his big-league debut. A $10.35 million bet on a shortstop who could be big-league ready in a hurry is a very on-brand move for a team trying to keep the momentum going.
Records like this don't stay records for long in a sport where draft bonuses keep climbing every cycle, but for now Cholowsky owns the number every future first overall pick will be measured against.