PHILADELPHIA — Already in first place in the AL Central, the surprising Chicago White Sox went with the expected choice and selected UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky on Saturday with the first pick of the MLB amateur draft.
A 6-foot-2 right-handed hitter, Cholowsky was a Golden Spikes finalist at UCLA and had a 1.088 OPS with 21 homers and 60 RBIs in his junior season. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year.
“Roch, his family and his support structure impressed us throughout the entire process, and his experience at UCLA certainly prepared him to take the next step as a professional,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. "An outstanding defensive shortstop, Roch brings an impact bat to any lineup, and he is a leader on the field as well as in the clubhouse. He has more than lived up to very high expectations, and we cannot wait to get him into our organization, get started and see him continue his growth and success.”
The next two picks went about as widely predicted.
Tampa Bay selected Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson with the second pick and Minnesota took Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey third.
Just 18 years old, the 6-3, 185-pound Emerson bats left, throws right and is widely considered the best all-around player in the draft. A University of Texas commit, Emerson transferred to Fort Worth Christian for his senior year, when he played under head coach Rusty Greer, a nine-year MLB veteran who spent nine seasons with the Texas Rangers.
The 21-year-old Lackey didn’t receive any Division I offers until his senior year of high school and has since blossomed into one of the top catching prospects in the draft out of Georgia Tech. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder showed some versatility by also playing third base.
The rest of the top 10
San Francisco selected right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora — a noted fried chicken aficionado — out of UC Santa Barbara with the No. 4 pick. The Pirates took outfielder Derek Curiel from LSU with the fifth pick. Louisville outfielder Zion Rose went sixth to Kansas City and Oak Grove High School (Mississippi) outfielder Eric Booth Jr. went seventh to Baltimore.
The Athletics drafted Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress with the eighth pick, Atlanta took Virginia outfielder AJ Gracia with the ninth pick and Colorado selected Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell 10th.
The players were no-shows
With former White Sox and Phillies players Jimmy Rollins and Greg Luzinski on hand to rally hundreds of fans at the draft, Chicago had the top selection for the first time since taking Harold Baines in 1977.
Baines was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
The White Sox, who the No. 1 pick after they lost 102 games last season and won the draft lottery, have pegged Cholowsky as a future star that can help them win their first World Series title since 2005.
Led by All-Star third baseman Miguel Vargas, the White Sox have emerged as one of the top surprises and entered Saturday in first place in the AL Central after enduring three straight 100-loss seasons.
Cholowsky is the first collegiate shortstop to go No. 1 overall since Vanderbilt’s Dansby Swanson in 2015 and was UCLA’s first No. 1 draft pick since Gerrit Cole in 2011.
Cholowsky's immediate reaction?
Well, it didn't come in Philadelphia, where he led off the lineup of MLB draft prospects who did not show up at the city's convention center, just a few miles away from Citizens Bank Park, the home of Tuesday's All-Star Game. MLB said Friday that no amateur players were scheduled to attend the draft, just as last year.
Major League Baseball has weaved the idea of forcing players to attend into negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. MLB proposed requiring up to 10 prospects to attend the draft, and each would get a $50,000 draft attendance bonus.
That meant the loudest ovation during draft festivities belonged to the Phillie Phanatic when he was introduced during mascot roll call. Phillies fans just about booed Braves mascot Blooper out of the convention center and had more jeers for MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Manfred — who botched the pronunciation of Cholowsky's name at the podium — turned the crowd reaction around before the start of the draft as he name-dropped some of the great stars in Phillies history. (For the record, Cholowsky's last name is pronounced chil-OW'-skee.)
There was another announcement to make inside the convention center.
“We’re going to see the arrival of tremendous talent today,” Siera Santos of MLB Network told the crowd.
Just not live in Philadelphia.
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