CHICAGO -- As a young man with an abundance of baseball talent, Corey Ray had a plan.

The native of the South Side of Chicago was going to use the game as a tool to get an education.

“With ACE, I was allowed to do just that,” said the fifth overall pick in the 2016 Draft, referring to the White Sox Amateur City Elite youth baseball program. “But it goes further than that because they never told me 'no.' Any time I wanted to hit, any time I wanted to work out, the [ACE] coaches never told me 'no.'

“That instilled discipline. It instills work ethic, and they hold you accountable. Those are all things that you use at the next level in college, whether it’s baseball or class. Eventually, when you enter a work world, you use those things.”

The White Sox held their annual letter of intent signing night for 20 of their ACE players Wednesday at Guaranteed Rate Field, with the program entering its 16th year of excellence and importance. This ceremony represented a great moment for the young talent, their families and coaches amid one of the best programs created.

When it began in 2007, ACE aimed at “providing a pathway to the game of baseball for African American youth, while offering resources and mentorship to pull kids away from the dangers of some of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods,” according to Wednesday’s information sheet. There now have been more than 250 college scholarships earned by ACE participants, with 85-plus earning college degrees.

There have been 120 ACE alumni playing college baseball at the Division I level, while 28 have been drafted by a Major League organization. Ray, who at 28 is now a free agent after being part of the Brewers' system, was the first ACE participant to reach the Majors when he debuted in 2021. He was joined by Blake Hickman, another ACE alum who was selected by the White Sox in the seventh round of the 2015 Draft and has now become pitching coach for the White Sox Single-A affiliate at Kannapolis, to address the college-bound players Wednesday.

“I say until I’m purple in the face, this was an integral part in the success of my baseball career,” Ray told MLB.com after the program. “Just because you are introduced and exposed to baseball at a high level. You get coaches who have played the game at a high level, and they can help you get to that high level and then you get seen. Those are all things that follow you throughout your entire baseball career.”

“When they came and got me at 12 or 13 years old, they put me right in the spotlight, big showcases,” Hickman said. “I couldn’t believe that an organization would do that for a kid of my caliber from the city. That’s the one thing that stood out to me early.”

Players on Wednesday signed with schools from local institutions such as Olive-Harvey College and South Suburban College to Western Kentucky and Alabama A&M. In fact, 17 different schools were represented among the group.

Each player announced his name, his collegiate destination and his favorite ACE memory. It’s part of the program’s tradition before putting pen to paper.

“To me, ACE is a brotherhood, it’s a family, it’s a lifelong bond,” said Will Hill, who began with ACE at age 11 and, at 17, signed with South Suburban College on Wednesday. “It’s growing to become a man, growing to become a better baseball player. Just being overall a better person.

“It has always been a dream of mine to go play baseball at the next level. To be here, it’s a dream, a dream accomplished. It means everything.”

And this program is far from being about just baseball. It’s about life, as explained by these young men on Wednesday.

“Baseball is a game of life, right?” Ray said. “But with the schedule that ACE put out, you got to have discipline and a good head on your shoulders just because of all the travel. The talent that you are playing and the opportunity you are afforded, you get used to a certain lifestyle and they teach you certain things you need in life.

“There were things I was told from coaches here that I use and tell my kids as a dad. As a dad, as a husband, as a son. These are things that you learn with ACE, you use those your entire life.”