This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin's White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- What were you doing at the age of 19?
Many people were attending college, trying to balance classes, living on their own for the first time and having an active social life.
Caleb Bonemer, the No. 61 prospect overall per MLB Pipeline, earned Carolina League Most Valuable Player honors at this younger stage of life during his first season of professional baseball with the White Sox.
Now, at the advanced age of 20 as of Oct. 5, Bonemer is a homeowner in Nashville, Tenn., and he’s pushing even closer to the Major Leagues.
Although Bonemer wasn’t invited to big league camp, he has five at-bats in four games during occasional Cactus League additions.
“I never had a huge thought about it. I try to be where my feet are,” Bonemer told MLB.com, when asked about a potential non-roster invite to Spring Training. “Wherever I’m at, continue to work on things I got to work on. Just take it one day at a time and whenever they see fit to move me up, wherever that might be, I’ll be ready to go.”
“He’s super dialed in,” White Sox starter Sean Burke said of Bonemer. “His baseball maturity is advanced for that age. He’s a hard worker, extremely focused. His day to day is very meticulous and focused on baseball. I’m excited to see what he can do this year.”
Bonemer, as a shortstop, wouldn’t have great occasion to run into Burke, a right-handed hurler. And Burke’s brief 2025 Minor League stint was with Triple-A Charlotte, while Bonemer was knocking around opposing pitching for Single-A Kannapolis and High-A Winston-Salem.
But they trained together during the offseason through their Bledsoe Agency in Nashville. Bonemer benefited from working again with several experienced Major Leaguers during those down months, including Jake Burger, Vinnie Pasquantino, Brandon Lowe, Brendan Donovan, and Trevor Larnach.
“Overall, the offseason was great,” Bonemer said. “It’s good to have guys to be able to train with every day. If I was back home in Michigan, it would be me and my dad. It’s good to have good people surrounding you being able to train with. Pretty good set up.
“Honestly, with the changes I made last season just continue to try to rep those things out, keep finetuning those. It worked last year so replicate that again this year.”
Colson Montgomery joined Bonemer as a homeowner in Nashville as well as a featured part of this Bledsoe offseason workout group.
Bonemer paid attention to what the White Sox shortstop went through and eventually accomplished in 2025, finishing with 21 home runs in 71 games and fifth-place honors in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting.
Montgomery’s on-field achievement and words of wisdom shared in Nashville served as valuable learning experiences for Bonemer.
“From what he told me, it was a lot of just kind of mindset stuff,” Bonemer said. “Being relaxed and loose and free. And I’ve honestly experienced the same thing.
“When I’m able to be relaxed, play free, play loose, it’s just everything is way easier and way better. Definitely from his experience in the big leagues, I learned a lot from that, too.”
There was a time not too long ago when the White Sox weren’t exactly bountiful with talent at shortstop. Now, they have Montgomery, Sam Antonacci, Billy Carlson, who was the team’s top pick in the ’25 Draft, William Bergolla Jr., Kyle Lodise and of course, Bonemer.
Even in the limited time with the White Sox during Spring Training, Bonemer has impressed those around him. He has the athletic ability to play all over the infield.
“We were happy to get him two drafts ago,” general manager Chris Getz said during a recent interview. “We saw the ability, the potential. And man, he had a tremendous year for us last year. He’s a guy that we feel like can do a lot of things on the diamond -- he can run, he can defend, he can hit, he’s got power.”
“Looks like he belongs out there,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s extremely physical, he’s confident how he goes about his business. Great guy, nice to be able to talk to him for the first time before these games and get to connect with him a little bit. Excited for when his time comes for real.”
Venable was in college at Princeton when he was the same age as Bonemer last year. Bonemer was slashing .281/.401/.473 across 107 games and 476 plate appearances, with 12 homers, 30 doubles, 29 stolen bases, 64 RBIs and 77 runs scored.
Just think how much more Bonemer will develop by the time he reaches legal drinking age. At that point, he could be doing his daily work in the Majors.
“It’s more pressure, more motivation to continue to do that,” Bonemer said. “I try to keep it in perspective that it’s just my first year, it’s just Low-A. There is still a lot of baseball ahead. I’m grateful I was able to go out and play at a high level.”