2026 Prospect Grades: Chicago White Sox

2026 Prospect Grades: Chicago White Sox#

Introduction
This is the first article in my 2026 Prospect Grades series, which will culminate in an article outlining my favorite breakout prospects across the league and a top 100 prospect ranking.

Before getting into the White Sox prospects and my FV grades, I first want to discuss my scouting philosophy towards prospects. There is nothing more valuable in baseball than a young, controllable superstar (with a bonus for pitchers), and my grades will seek to elevate upside over floor. This will be most relevant between ranking players with the same FV grade.

I value a combination of production and scoutable traits. In hitters, I’m most interested in wRC+ and ISO, and in pitchers, I’m most interested in xFIP, K/9, BB/9, and HR/9. Additionally, I like to look for indicators in hitter profiles, such as high power/hit grades, ++ frames, elite bat control or pitch selection, and age-relative performance. In pitchers, I like to look for pitch mix, highly graded fastballs, ++ frames, and age-relative performance.

Players will be graded on the traditional 20-80 FV scale. For more details on this, see below, and/or this article.

Hitter Grades
20: Organizational Player (Not MLB caliber)
30: AAAA (<-0.1 WAR)
40: Bench (0-0.7 WAR)
45: Platoon/Low End Everyday Player (0.8-1.5 WAR)
50: Average Everyday Player (1.6-2.4 WAR)
55: Above Average Everyday Player (2.5-3.3 WAR)
60: All Star (3.4-4.9 WAR)
70: Superstar (5.0-7.0 WAR)
80: MVP Caliber (>7.0 WAR)

Pitcher Grades
20: Organizational Player (Not MLB caliber)
30: AAAA (<-0.1 WAR) / backend RPs
40: Backend starters, FIP ~5.00 / middle inning SIRPs (0.0-0.9 WAR)
45: #4/#5 starters, ~4.20 FIP / dominant bullpen (1.0-1.7 WAR)
50: #4 starters, ~4.00 FIP / elite bullpen (1.8-2.5 WAR)
55: #3/#4 starters, ~3.70 FIP (2.6-3.4 WAR)
60: #3 starters, ~3.30 FIP (3.5-4.9 WAR)
70: #2 starters, <3.00 FIP (5.0-7.0 WAR)
80: #1 starters, top 3 arm in baseball (>7.0 WAR)

With all of that out of the way, let’s get into my prospect grades for the White Sox.

Chicago White Sox Top 64 Prospects

Writeup
The White Sox have been disastrous for some time now, but the farm system is finally starting to materialize with some tangible upside and potential blue-chip prospects towards the top.

I am extremely high on Billy Carlson, who is one of the best high school draft prospects in a long time and only has one real “yellow” flag - some scouts don’t like his swing. He’s been answering these concerns with some significant swing tweaks across the last year, and these same scouts have been encouraged by these results. Carlson is a Gold Glove shortstop with real offensive upside. FanGraphs grades each of his tools as + or higher, with grades of 50 hit, 55 game power, 55 run, 70 field, and 70 throw, as well as a + frame and + athleticism. Carlson checks literally every box for what a prototypical shortstop prospect should look like, and as my very aggressive grade might show you, this is a young player that I believe in heavily. I believe Carlson will land somewhere between an All-Star and a superstar. Carlson is a player to watch heavily going into 2026, as he could end the year as the #1 prospect in baseball depending on how he hits against pro competition.

Caleb Bonemer reminds me a lot of Mets prospect Jacob Reimer. Both are carried by their plus offensive tools and have murky defensive projections. Regardless, Bonemer is a good enough hitter that it really won’t matter where he plays. Bonemer’s bat allows him to be an average everyday player anywhere on the diamond, and if he takes a jump defensively somewhere on the diamond, there’s real upside here for an All Star.

Sam Antonacci is MLB ready now. Antonacci has a ZiPS projection for 2+ WAR, and an 80th percentile projection above 3 WAR. Antonacci provides value with his multi-positional flexibility across the infield, and has a ++ hit tool. Championship teams are partly built on franchises finding and developing prospects like Antonacci into homegrown 2+ WAR players made even more valuable by their contract status. Pre-arbitration and players undergoing arbitration are extremely valuable as everyday players, and Antonacci fits that bill to a tee.

I’m a bit lower on Noah Schultz than some despite his truly magnanimous upside, as I think the odds of hitting the right-tail end of his potential outcomes are really low. Schultz is nearing debut age at 22 and was just okay throughout 2025, with a 4.17 xFIP across AA/AAA and real walk rate concerns (5.55 BB/9). Schultz has an absolutely demonic slider and a plus fastball, but even with plus command, he’s walked a lot of batters and hasn’t struck out enough for this tradeoff to be worth it. A lot of the issues stem from his real lack of a third pitch and a fastball that plays down despite its velocity. The slider is still elite, but he’s not going to be able to be a starter with only one plus pitch, and I don’t like banking on pitch development in prospects. The 45+ grade for him is supposed to represent the significant upside in his ++ frame profile with a truly elite pitch, while also showing that there’s real reason to have a reliever projection for Schultz. With that being said, Schultz would likely dominate in a single-inning relief role, and could become one of the game’s best closers.

Blake Larson is the pitcher I’m highest on relative to consensus in the White Sox system. Larson has a ++ frame and plus grades across the board, with a 60 fastball and 60 slider, as well as an average changeup and average command. Larson tops out around 96, which is great velocity from a LHP, and has the prototypical size and athleticism you’d want to see in a raw pitcher like this. Larson has a lot of potential in his changeup, but we barely got to see it after he got Tommy John in January 2025. Larson being post-TJ might actually add value to his prospect profile depending on how he comes back from it. Larson has an enormous leg kick and throws a lot of strikes. The reason I’m so high on him is because Larson checks all the boxes of a potential impact arm: Highly graded fastball, highly graded breaker, developing a pitch mix beyond the bread and butter, average or better command, good velocity (especially for a LHP), ++ frame, and a + delivery. The 45+ grade here is meant to represent real top end rotation upside for a player who’s pretty far away from the majors and hasn’t pitched after injury yet.

All in all, the White Sox system is pretty solid. I’m most impressed by the pitching depth they’ve developed here, both young pitchers with upside and older pitchers that can be spot-start or up-and-down types, saving value in that area is extremely important for a team with the payroll of the White Sox. In addition to that, I’m happy to say that the White Sox have quite a few position players with real upside, as well as the 2+ WAR solid prospects that represent the building blocks of a competitive team in the future. There’s a lot to like about this system, and I’m very optimistic about the White Sox future considering their blend of proximal, value, and upside prospects in this system that should both bolster and upgrade the major league team in the very near future. The White Sox already have real building blocks at the major league level, the biggest of which is catcher Kyle Teel, and I’m high on their outlook going forward as they continue to build their core of the future and escape the cellar that they’ve been trapped in for the last few years.