PHILADELPHIA — Considered a strong possibility to be the first pick in this year’s MLB draft, Roch Cholowsky submitted a video to league officials with the correct pronunciation of his last name.
For the record, the name is pronounced “chil-OW’-skee.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred still botched the pronunciation of Cholowsky’s name at the podium Saturday afternoon, when the Chicago White Sox indeed made the UCLA shortstop the No. 1 pick.
No harm done, Cholowsky insisted.
“I didn’t hear it get butchered,” he said. “I heard Roch and kind of lost it.”
Cholowsky burst into tears at a draft party far from the site of the draft.
He led off the lineup of major league prospects who did not show up at the city’s convention center, just a few miles away from Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies and the site of Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game. MLB said Friday that no amateur players were scheduled to attend the draft, just like last year.
Cholowsky was thrilled he’ll be headed to Chicago, where he enjoyed a fruitful predraft meeting with White Sox officials and mingled in the clubhouse of a team that has been perhaps the biggest surprise in the majors this years, entering Saturday in first place in the American League Central Division standings despite a run of three straight 100-loss seasons that in part led to the overall No. 1 pick.
“It really felt like to me like a college clubhouse,” Cholowsky said. “It’s just a different feel in there.”
A 6-foot-2, 202-pound right-handed hitter, Cholowsky was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award — given annually to the country’s top amateur baseball player — this season as a junior for the Bruins. He had a 1.088 on-base plus slugging percentage with 21 home runs and 60 RBIs, was honored as the Big Ten player of the year, and helped UCLA earn the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Division I tournament.
White Sox general manager Chris Getz said in a released statement that Cholowsky “is a leader on the field as well as in the clubhouse. He has more than lived up to very high expectations, and we cannot wait to get him into our organization, get started and see him continue his growth and success.”
The next two picks went about as widely predicted.
The Tampa Bay Rays selected Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson with the second pick, and the Minnesota Twins took Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey third. Along with Cholowsky, they were considered strong possibilities for the No. 1 pick.
Just 18 years old, the 6-3, 185-pound Emerson bats left, throws right and is widely considered the best all-around player among this year’s draft prospects. Emerson, who was committed to the University of Texas, transferred to Fort Worth Christian for his senior season of high school baseball, when he played under head coach Rusty Greer, a nine-year MLB veteran who spent nine seasons with the Texas Rangers.
The 21-year-old Lackey didn’t receive any Division I offers until his senior year of high school but blossomed into one of the country’s top catching prospects during his time at Georgia Tech. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder showed some versatility by also playing third base.
The San Francisco Giants selected right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora out of UC Santa Barbara with the No. 4 pick. The Pittsburgh Pirates took outfielder Derek Curiel from LSU with the fifth pick. Louisville outfielder Zion Rose went sixth to Kansas City, and outfielder Eric Booth Jr. of Oak Grove High School in Mississippi went seventh to the Baltimore Orioles.
The Athletics drafted Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress with the eighth pick, the Atlanta Braves took Virginia outfielder AJ Gracia with the ninth pick, and the Colorado Rockies selected Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell 10th.
There were just three pitchers selected among the first 20 overall.
Phillies fans cheered the 34th overall pick in the draft when the White Sox drafted high school star Landon Thome.
The infielder from Nazareth Academy in Illinois is the son of National Baseball Hall of Fame member Jim Thome, who played for the Phillies, White Sox and Cleveland Indians during his MLB career. He helped changed the perception of the Phillies from long-time losers to championship contenders when he left Cleveland and signed a six-year, $85 million contract ahead of the 2003 season.
The 18-year-old Thome went two picks before the Phillies drafted California high school shortstop Tyler Spangler at No. 36 overall — and sent the bulk of the fans fleeing for the exits.
There were other MLB family connections on the first day of the draft. The Miami Marlins selected shortstop Jacob Lombard with the No. 14 pick. He is the son of Detroit Tigers bench coach George Lombard Sr and younger brother of top New York Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr.
The Milwaukee Brewers took high school shortstop Trey Ebel with the 25th pick. He is the brother of Brady Ebel, whom they drafted with the 32nd selection last year. Their father is Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel — expected to pitch to Phillies slugger Bryce Harper in the Home Run Derby on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.
With former White Sox and Phillies players Jimmy Rollins and Greg Luzinski on hand to rally hundreds of fans at the draft, Chicago had the top selection for the first time since taking Harold Baines in 1977. Baines was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.
The White Sox, who got the No. 1 pick after they lost 102 games last season and won the draft lottery, have pegged Cholowsky as a future star who can help a club that hasn’t won the World Series since 2005. However, led by 2026 MLB All-Star third baseman Miguel Vargas, the White Sox are already well on their way to a turnaround.
“It’s definitely a lot more motivation to get up there and join those guys at some point,” Cholowsky said. “Being part of a contending team is pretty cool. I value winning a lot.”
Cholowsky is the first college shortstop to go No. 1 overall since Vanderbilt’s Dansby Swanson in 2015 and was UCLA’s first No. 1 draft pick since Gerrit Cole in 2011.
No players in Saturday’s draft went to the podium after their name was called.
MLB has weaved the idea of forcing players to attend into negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. MLB proposed requiring up to 10 prospects to attend the draft, and each would get a $50,000 draft attendance bonus.
That meant the loudest ovation during draft festivities belonged to the Phillie Phanatic when he was introduced during mascot roll call. Phillies fans just about booed Braves mascot Blooper out of the convention center and had more jeers for Manfred.
The commissioner turned the crowd reaction around before the start of the draft as he name-dropped some of the great stars in Phillies history.
There was another announcement to make inside the convention center.
“We’re going to see the arrival of tremendous talent today,” Siera Santos of MLB Network told the crowd.
Just not live in Philadelphia.