UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky Goes No. 1 Overall in MLB Draft

UCLA baseball has just had arguably its best win of the season during the offseason.

The Bruins were arguably the biggest disappointment during the college baseball postseason. The Bruins were the number one overall team in the country heading into the year, and would remain the number one team throughout the year and enter the playoffs as the number one team.

The Bruins would be missing their ace pitcher, Logan Reddeman, as he missed the Big Ten tournament and the final four games of the regular season. With him injured, there was more pressure on the bats to produce more runs, but they weren’t able to deliver.

With the pitching and hitters unable to perform, UCLA would become the second-ever number one overall seed to fail to reach the super regionals of the NCAA tournament.

While the season ended disappointingly, the MLB draft was a nice win for Roch Cholowsky, who was selected as the number one overall pick by the Chicago White Sox.

Why Cholowsky Was Selected Number One Overall

Roch Cholowsky was the projected number one pick since the beginning of this season. As a sophomore, he would have an unbelievable season with a .353 batting average, 23 home runs, 89 hits, 74 RBIs, .710 slugging percentage, and .480 on-base percentage.

Cholowsky would win the Big Ten player of the year award and be named a first-team All-American. While he didn’t have the same level of production in his junior year, he was still one of the best players in all of college baseball.

Cholowsky would have a .320 batting average, with 21 home runs, 73 hits, 60 RBIs, .636 slugging percentage, and .452 on-base percentage. Cholowsky would also win his second straight Big Ten player of the year award and be selected for First Team All-American once again.

Cholowsky is not just a great player at the plate, but also an incredible defender at shortstop. Cholowsky was graded at 60 for his defense, which puts him among the elite defensive shortstops in baseball.

Why Chicago Is the Perfect Spot

Over the past two years, the Chicago White Sox have been a laughingstock in MLB, posting back-to-back 100-loss seasons. Now the White Sox are the biggest surprise of this season with a 48-45 record, and if the season were to end today, they would win the AL Central and be the three seed in the playoffs.

Cholowsky has just finished his junior year of college baseball and is a more developed prospect than Grady Emerson, who just turned 18 and finished his senior year of high school.

With the season entering the halfway point, Cholowky could potentially come in right away for the White Sox and be a pinch-hitter during the regular season to keep the White Sox in first place in the AL Central.