Caleb Bonemer has been the headliner for the White Sox in the Arizona Fall League, and Thursday gave him another chance to show why.
In Glendale’s 10-0 win over Mesa, Bonemer put together his best performance of the showcase so far. He finished 3-for-5 and came up a double short of the strikeout, with his home run actually the least impressive of the three hits.
His night started with a 110.6 mph single in the third inning. Later, he ripped a 106.9 mph line drive off the left-field wall and turned it into a triple thanks to a big bounce. The homer, by contrast, barely cleared the left-field fence and came off the bat at just 98.1 mph.
That triple is really the snapshot of what makes him so interesting: the blend of real power and unexpected speed. Inside White Sox player development, some believe the 21-year-old looks like Mike Trout.
Not because he’s anywhere near Trout’s level, at least not yet. But when Bonemer is playing center field in Arizona, the resemblance is hard to miss. The Michigan native has the kind of frame that stands out, along with feet that play better than they might look at first glance.
And Bonemer’s production keeps backing up the hype. Through 143 games across the minors and the Arizona Fall League this year, he has 39 home runs and counting.
Among White Sox position players in the AFL, he’s the clear leader as the season moves past the halfway mark. Colby Shelton has also started to find some better fortune after a rough stretch in Birmingham, where a low BABIP had kept his hits from falling. His AFL line reflects that adjustment.
Player PA 2B 3B HR BB K AVG/OBP/SLG
Bonemer 55 4 2 3 6 12.286/.364/.633
Shelton 42 0 0 1 5 7.206/.310/.294
Magill 24 1 0 0 1 9.227/.250/.273
The pitching side has had its own developments. Jonathan Clark has been the biggest surprise, and he’s been tough to square up so far. Across five outings, he has allowed just four of the 24 batters he has faced to reach, with two hit batters not reflected in the standard line.
Pitcher G IP H HR BB K ERA
Altermatt 6 4.2 3 0 3 7 1.93
LaCombe 5 6 5 2 5 3 6.00
Wright 5 6.1 9 0 5 10 0.00
Clark 5 6 1 0 1 8 1.50
George 1 0.2 0 0 3 1 13.50
Vail 1 1 0 0 1 3 0.00
Pierce George is out with an elbow fracture, and Tommy Vail has stepped in to take his place. Mathias LaCombe also remains a name to watch, with his AFL performance potentially influencing whether the White Sox decide to add him to the 40-man roster.
There’s also a wrinkle that could come from the league level rather than the player side. The Rule 5 draft was wiped out in 2021 because of the last lockout, and if this winter’s labor situation drags beyond the scheduled winter meetings, Major League Baseball could end up canceling it again.
In Other News...
Colson Montgomery Gave The White Sox Hope And One Huge Concern
Colson Montgomerys 2026 season gave the White Sox plenty to build on at shortstop. He played in 153 games, led American League shortstops with 31 home runs and 87 RBIs, and finished with a 2.8 WAR, the kind of everyday production Chicago has been waiting for from the position. Even with the offensive value, his defensive metrics stayed strong enough to suggest theres a real long-term piece here, not just a power surge.
The concern, though, is how narrow the path to that production appears to be. Montgomerys contact quality dipped from his 2025 debut, his chase rate climbed, and the swing-and-miss issues were impossible to ignore over the course of the year. The White Sox can live with some strikeouts from a power-hitting shortstop, but if the swing decisions and fastball handling do not improve, the ceiling comes with a fairly obvious catch. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Bonemer Is Giving White Sox Fans Something To Watch Closely
Several White Sox prospects have spent the fall in the Arizona Fall League, giving the organization another look at how its young players stack up against advanced competition. Caleb Bonemer has been one of the names worth following there, joining Colby Shelton, Anthony DePino, Pierce George and Mathias LaCombe on a Glendale Desert Dogs roster that has not found much traction in the standings.
The Desert Dogs have the leagues worst record and are unlikely to push into the playoffs, which has shifted the focus even more toward individual development than results. For Chicago, that makes Bonemers showing especially notable, since he has handled the assignment well while the rest of the group has produced a mixed bag, with some players getting more out of the experience than others. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Still Have Two Costly Obstacles This Offseason
After a 2026 season that pushed the White Sox into the ALDS and finally got them back into the win column in October, the front office now has a different kind of offseason problem to solve. Chicago has momentum to build on, but it also has to decide how to handle a pair of pricey veterans who no longer fit neatly into a long-term plan.
Andrew Benintendi and Luis Castillo sit near the center of that discussion because both carry meaningful money and limited margin for error. Benintendi is down to one year on his deal, while Castillos contract stretches into the next couple of seasons and has been complicated by his performance and injury history, leaving the White Sox to weigh whether there is any real market for either player or whether they are better off holding on and hoping for a bounce-back. [Read more 🡒]