ORLANDO, Fla. — The Chicago White Sox are on the clock.
The Sox received the No. 1 pick for the 2026 Major League Baseball draft after winning Tuesday’s draft lottery, held during the annual winter meetings.
“It’s a significant event for us,” Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “It can’t be understated how important it is. We’ve been hard at work at bringing talent into the organization in different ways and obviously the amateur draft is an obvious avenue. Now, to be able to get a chance at the top talent in the draft, it’s really exciting and just gives us a greater boost.
“Last year, as players were joining our major-league club and performing the way they did, you began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now it’s just shining a little bit brighter.”
Getz celebrated on stage shortly after the announcement with Hall of Famer Harold Baines, who attended Tuesday’s lottery ceremony representing the Sox.
“It’s exciting to be here,” Baines said. “I’m happy for the organization. I’m happy for them to get whoever the No. 1 pick is going to be.”
It’s the third time in franchise history that the Sox own the first overall pick and the first since 1977, when they selected Baines out of St. Michaels (Md.) High School. The Sox drafted first baseman Danny Goodwin from Peoria High School with the first overall pick in 1971. He played parts of seven major-league seasons.
The draft will be held July 11-12 in Philadelphia as part of MLB All-Star week festivities.
“It’s exciting, a great day in White Sox history,” Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley said. “We’re super excited. We will exhaust all resources to be sure we’re prepared and execute a draft plan that’s right.
“There may be an obvious choice, but there also may be ways to be creative to secure multiple resources instead of one. Preparation, our staff will work extremely hard to get this right. And we’ll execute it the best way we can.”
Top prospects for the 2026 draft, according to MLB.com, include UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
Cholowsky’s father, Dan Cholowsky, was a first-round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1991. He played eight professional seasons as an infielder and catcher, including parts of two seasons in the Chicago Cubs organization, but never made the major leagues.
“Roch’s a good player,” Shirley said. “Roch does a lot. He’s earned the right to be on that leaderboard, if that’s what you want to call it. But, we’ve got a long way to go. He’s a great player. He comes from a baseball family, there’s a lot of attributes to like about Roch and his history of what he’s done at UCLA.”
Shirley later added, “There’s multiple players across this great country that are going to answer that bell and try to get their place in line along with Roch. That’s the best thing about the draft, right? You want the players competing for that top spot.”
The Tampa Bay Rays will pick second, followed by Minnesota, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Baltimore, the Athletics, Atlanta and Colorado.
The Cubs, not eligible for the lottery after making the 2025 postseason, will select No. 23 in the draft.
MLB and the players’ association established the lottery in the March 2022 collective bargaining agreement. The union pushed for the innovation to encourage teams to compete for wins rather than trade off players at the deadline in an attempt to get a higher draft choice.
The Sox entered Tuesday with the best odds for the No. 1 pick (27.73%). They had the second-worst record in the majors in 2025, going 60-102. The Rockies went 43-119, but were not eligible for this year’s lottery after receiving lottery picks in the 2024 and 2025 drafts.
“As the teams started falling, well, it’s got to end up somewhere,” Getz said when asked about watching Tuesday’s lottery unfold. “It looks like it’s coming our way. I’m really happy for our organization, our fan base and look forward to diving in more and learning more about this upcoming draft and getting out and watching these guys.
“It’s just a big moment for us and the opportunity not only to capitalize on the first pick but the depth of the draft and having the pool space, the capital to go out and bring in even more talent, it’s really exciting as well.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
