Format = Position Player | Age on 4/1/2026| Highest Level Played | Estimated Time of Arrival
1. OF Braden Montgomery | 22 | AA | 2026
Chicago has seen some of its prospects backslide, so the front office had to be thrilled to see Montgomery post respectable outcomes across three levels in his debut season, slashing .270/.360/.444 with 12 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 121 games. A switch-hitter at 6’2” 220 pounds, Montgomery was Boston’s first-round pick in 2024 (12th overall) but got dealt away in the Garrett Crochet trade before he even played an inning for the Bo Sox. Right field is wide open in Chicago, and while that probably shouldn’t accelerate this guy’s timeline, people have their own jobs to consider, so you never know.
2. SS Caleb Bonemer | 20 | A+ | 2027
Bonemer might’ve had the best season of any prospect in this system, slashing .281/.401/.473 with 12 home runs and 29 stolen bases in 107 games across Low and High-A in his debut out of high school. He even closed out the year with an electric couple of weeks in High-A, slugging .611 with two home runs and two stolen bases in 11 games. The plate skills and hit tool both look premium at this point, and at 6’1” 195 pounds with enough athleticism to remain on the dirt, Bonemer is my favorite prospect in this system in terms of perception versus dynasty value. Let’s keep the puns out of this for now. I can’t–I won’t–not yet.
3. LHP Noah Schultz | 22 | AAA | 2026
At 6’10” 240 pounds with a low-three-quarters release point, Schultz brings a unique look that allowed him to dominate early in minor league career. With anyone that big, the delivery can become a problem, and that’s what happened to Schultz in 2025. He walked 45 batters in 73 total innings across two levels and got particularly exposed in five Triple-A starts, allowing a 9.37 ERA and nine walks in 16.1 innings. Here’s a little snippet from last year’s write-up on Schultz: “Despite the dominant outcomes (0.98 WHIP in 88.1 innings across two levels), his changeup has work to do, and his fastball could use some tweaking to play better up in the zone, but I suspect, given his delivery and release, a cutter and sinker will be auditioned at some point, so his fastball could be separated into a few different pitches (4-seam, sinker, cutter) across time, at which point he’d be a nightmare matchup for just about anybody.” That dream of becoming a nightmare is still alive, and this organization has shown some aptitude with fastball shapes. Might be a decent time to buy if he looks good early.
4. LHP Hagen Smith | 22 | AA | 2026
The fifth overall pick in 2024, Smith still has the wipeout slider and plus fastball that made him dominant in the SEC, but command has evaded him as a professional. He was bedeviled by the base on balls in 2025, finishing with a walk rate of 6.66 per nine innings (17.6%). On the other hand, he allowed just 42 hits in 75.2 Double-A innings across 20 starts. If you’ve been around a while, you know I like IP/GS as a way to think about a minor league pitcher’s season, but we have to give Smith kind of a pass on that front because he had some elbow trouble mid-season. On the other OTHER hand, you could disregard that as the opposite of what we should be thinking. The walk rate’s connected to the pitches thrown per innings. The elbow’s connected to the Pitch Count. The fantasy value is connected to the innings pitched, to the health, etc. Anyway, Smith needs to throw more strikes, but he’s young, and he’s nasty, so he’s got time to learn. Echoes of Robbie Ray.
5. RHP Grant Taylor | 23 | MLB | 2025
Here’s what I wrote last year in this space:
“The 51st overall pick in 2023 coming off a season lost to Tommy John surgery, Taylor looked like his old self late in 2024, recording a 0.72 WHIP and 32 strikeouts across 19.1 Low-A innings. As an SEC arm with a 99 mph fastball that plays well up in the zone, he probably should dominate in the lower minors, but it’s nice to see anyway. At 6’3” 230 lbs with a four-pitch mix (fastball, cutter, slider, curve), he could cruise through several levels this season if he stays healthy.”
A season later, Taylor has graduated prospect status on time served, but I held some space for him here because he’s logged just 36.2 MLB innings, which keeps him eligible for something like a month in the life of a reliever, and that’s enough to claim a closer role. Taylor did not allow a home run in those 36.2 innings, recording 54 strikeouts against 15 walks. The 4.91 ERA does not tell the tale. I’m not a huge FIP fan, but that number was 1.42. Wild separation there. The latest take from November had Chris Getz saying Taylor would probably be a multi-inning reliever in 2026, but I don’t think that’s worth a whole lot except maybe to suppress this guy’s price. If the White Sox win even an average number of games for a bad major league team, Taylor would still have value in a multi-inning role.
6. OF Jaden Fauske | 19 | NA | 2030
We don’t have any baseball card stats to see yet, but Fauske is a hit-tool-first center fielder with plus plate skills and developing power. The 44th overall pick in the 2025 draft, Fauske is a patient left-handed hitter at 6’3” 200 pounds who might rack up some gaudy walk rates in the lower minors.
7. RHP Tanner McDougal | 22 | AA | 2026
McDougal’s command took a step forward in 2025, propelling him to a 3.26 ERA in 113.1 innings (28 GS) across two levels and a career-best 1.19 WHIP in 55.2 Double-A innings. His previous career low at a level was 1.33, at High-A, the same season. He’s always thrown loud stuff, pushing up to 100 mph with the heat, but he repeated his delivery better in 2025 and started spotting his breaking balls with consistency in the second half. If that’s the McDougal that shows up at 2026 spring training, he’ll look like a candidate to break camp with the big club.
8. SS Billy Carlson | 19 | NA | 2030
Like Yoshimi battling the pink robots, it can be hard to know what’s real with a high school hitter, but from everything I can glean, hitting is the hard part for Carlson, who got drafted 10th overall because he drew rave reports as a defender at shortstop. You don’t see a lot of 70’s or 80’s in any tool at the high school level, so I’m not here to disparage the kid, who has plenty of upside at 6’1” 185 pounds with passable power and speed. I’m just wary of spending a roster spot on a glove-first prospect.
9. OF George Wolkow | 20 | A | 2029
A left-handed hitter at 6’7” 239 pounds, George Wolkow shops in a different part of the store than you do. Might need a different store altogether. As you can imagine, he features power in the batter’s box and a big swing that invites a lot of strikeouts, but he cut his 40 percent K-rate from 2024 down to 29.6 percent in 2025, so we’re definitely heading in the right direction on that front. Trouble is, his wRC+ dropped from 124 in 76 Low-A games last year to 98 this season–two points worse than league average in a repeat trip to the level. I suspect the directive was to cut the K’s though, so that’s a fair trade at this age. Hopefully some thump returns in 2026.
10. OF Samuel Zavala | 21 | A+ | 2028
San Diego put Zavala on a fast track that collapsed on him in 2024 when he was traded away in the Dylan Cease deal. Zavala slashed .187/.340/.301 in 111 High-A games with the Sox and just about torpedoed his dynasty stock in the process. He retains the upside of an athletic 6’1” 175 pound left-handed bat with power and plate discipline and bounced back with a 122 wRC+ in 119 High-A games this season.
Thanks for reading!
