White Sox call No. 1 draft pick a three-man race

Jesse RogersJul 8, 2026, 08:15 PM ET

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Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.

CHICAGO -- With just three days until the MLB amateur draft, the Chicago White Sox are still deciding among three players for the No. 1 pick: UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey and Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson.

"It's still a bit of an open book, but I think we all know who the candidates are here, and we're working extremely hard," White Sox vice president of amateur scouting Mike Shirley said Wednesday. "The Cholowsky/Emerson conversation, the Vahn Lackey conversation, these are real. They are happening. They're happening up to the minute."

Shirley made a case for all three players, citing how much Emerson closed the gap on Cholowsky during his senior year of high school while also acknowledging Cholowsky "held serve" during his junior year of college, hitting .320 with 21 home runs. Meanwhile, Lackey is a "supreme catcher who could define the position," according to Shirley.

"It's not about what they are today," he said. "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."

Shirley was clear in the process that will lead to the pick, repeating general manager Chris Getz's stance that "we're taking the best player."

"It's not about the major league team. It's not about the money," Shirley said. "It's about who is the best player."

It's also not about what the collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players will look like in the future, either, according to Shirley. The league is proposing eliminating high school players from future drafts. The White Sox are blocking out all that outside noise, focusing on using all departments within their drafting apparatus to make the pick.

"Player development is heavy in the draft room right now, as we're blending this as the scouts are, as well," Shirley said. "It's research and development doing their part. It's in collaboration with the player development department.

"We're not looking for a savior. It's never been Chris' goal to find saviors. It's been his goal to continue to add to the totality of this team."

The first round of the draft is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, about the time the first-place White Sox will be hosting the Athletics in a matinee game. It should make for an exciting atmosphere around a team that has already been a huge surprise this season after enduring three straight 100-loss seasons, including an MLB-record 121 losses in 2024.

"We're not going to be in this position much longer," Shirley said of picking high in the draft. "So, I do think how we build out the first pick and the total draft, we must capture the best value, and we feel good about the targets, the direction ... building up the supply [in] totality."

Like other team executives, Shirley said he has concerns about the continued emergence of money in the form of NIL and its impact on the draft. That includes players returning to school or opting to play in college, forgoing a chance to turn pro.

"I think Roch Cholowsky turned down a substantial amount of money to leave UCLA last year," Shirley said. "If you don't think the players are being offered a lot of money to leave, it's real. And there's guys taking themselves out of the draft as we speak because they're just going to run with the NIL money for one more year. So yes, on Day 2 [of the draft], it's going to be a problem."

That concern, however, won't impact the No. 1 pick as the drama continues to build for that decision in Chicago.

"I don't want to pick 1-1 again," Shirley said with a smile. "I want to pass this on to someone else, and I want the White Sox to win a championship here real soon."