CHICAGO -- The discussions now can stop. The rumor mill can stop churning.
It’s time for the White Sox to Roch and roll. Or finally, the Roch has returned to Chicago for those pro wrestling fans.
Whatever new marketing slogan you choose, Daniel Roch Cholowsky has become the first pick of the 2026 MLB Draft out of UCLA. The White Sox made that move official at 12:43 p.m. CT Saturday, marking their third overall No. 1 pick in franchise history.
2026 MLB DRAFT PRESENTED BY NIPPON EXPRESS
Day 2: Sunday, July 12 (Rounds 5-20)
• 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
Coverage
Danny Goodwin didn’t sign out of Peoria High School in 1971. Harold Baines went from St. Michael’s High School in Easton, Md., to the White Sox in 1977 to, eventually, the Hall of Fame as a revered staple of the organization. Cholowsky was thought to be the White Sox favorite from the time the team won the Draft Lottery on Dec. 9 at the Winter Meetings, with prep shortstop Grady Emerson and Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey in the mix.
Cholowsky joins an organization whose Major League team currently is tied with Cleveland for the AL Central lead. That sort of luxury is rarely afforded to a 1-1 pick, even in the Draft Lottery era.
“It’s awesome,” said Cholowsky during a Zoom call post-Draft. “I know I’m not going straight to the big leagues, there’s a lot of work that needs to be put in. But seeing how well the team at the top is doing and the moves they're making, the way they’re playing, it’s definitely a lot more motivation to get up there and join those guys at some point.
“Being able to be part of a contender is pretty cool. I value winning a lot. Seeing what they’re doing up there for the first half of the season is pretty special.”
In the second week of June, after his UCLA squad was eliminated from the regional round of postseason college baseball competition, Cholowsky made his first visit to Chicago. White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield picked him up at the airport, then Cholowsky, Barfield and general manager Chris Getz had dinner together.
There was lunch with director of hitting Ryan Fuller the following day, a get together turning into a two-hour discussion on hitting. Cholowsky attended the Braves-White Sox game that evening, having a memorable meeting with chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. He spoke with a number of players who made him feel at home, coaches and manager Will Venable. The day ended in Braden Montgomery’s opposite-field walk-off homer off Raisel Iglesias in Montgomery’s big league debut.
Upon returning to his hotel after that first-night dinner, Cholowsky walked and explored Chicago until 2 a.m. Those few days sold him on the team and the city.
“I left the next morning and called my agent and told him that’s where I want to be and he’s got to do whatever he can to make it work. I know that’s where I want to be, and I hope you guys feel the same way about me,” Cholowsky said. “I fell in love with the city while I was out there and very excited to get back.”
“Once he got to know us and understand our vision and what we've accomplished so far, thankfully we've got a lot of tangible evidence that we seem to be on the right track,” Getz said. “So he got comfortable and he made it very clear that this was a slam dunk place that he wanted to go. That was certainly something that we wanted to hear and it made it a lot easier to make that selection."
As the pick was announced at Rate Field prior to Saturday’s 1-0 victory over the Athletics, the crowd at that time reacted with a loud round of applause. Cholowsky was shown on the scoreboard with his family after the selection, getting very emotional in the moment.
Official news had come earlier in the morning Saturday from the White Sox to Cholowsky, who had got a hotel room near his home just to relax before the 1-1 moment. His support crew’s reaction was natural, as he didn’t share the news beforehand.
Gene Honda, the longtime White Sox public address announcer, made Cholowsky’s pick official minutes before first pitch. The White Sox followed that news by playing “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night,” a KISS classic.
Cholowsky joins a group of White Sox shortstops featuring Colson Montgomery as their Major League starter at the spot, and Caleb Bonemer, the No. 1 White Sox prospect and No. 16 overall, per MLB Pipeline, taking part in the Futures Game on Sunday. With Billy Carlson (No. 4 White Sox, No. 58 overall), the team’s top pick from the 2025 Draft, William Bergolla Jr. (No. 9), Kyle Lodise (No. 8) and Javier Mogollon (No. 11) also in the mix, the organization is rock solid at that position.
Make that Roch solid as of Saturday.
“I’ve been watching the games,” said Cholowsky, who has been playing as the White Sox on MLB: The Show since his Chicago visit. “I got really attached to it, and I’m very excited to be a part of it. I would have been a little upset if it didn’t work out.”