The White Sox system had its share of uneven results in 2026, but a few prospects made real noise as the minor league season wrapped up. From Triple-A all the way down to Low-A, there were players who either boosted their stock or kept pushing toward the next level. Here’s a look at one standout from each affiliate.
At Triple-A Charlotte, IF/OF Rikuu Nishida continued to do what has made him such an interesting name in the organization. White Sox fans already know him from his 12-game major league debut this season, and the 11th-round pick has built a reputation around contact, discipline, and a little bit of flair.
He still has only two home runs across four minor league seasons, but he keeps finding ways to get on base and create traffic at the top of the order. In 104 games for Charlotte, Nishida hit .289 with a .422 on-base percentage, while drawing 83 walks and striking out 89 times.
If he never adds much in the way of power, his path to the big leagues probably stays narrow, but he could still carve out a role as a utilityman or a late-game option for defense and baserunning.
The Double-A spot belongs to 1B Anthony DePino, who quietly put together one of the more productive seasons in the system. The White Sox took DePino in the 6th round in 2024 out of Rhode Island, and the 23-year-old opened the year strong in High-A before moving up to Birmingham and keeping the same pace.
Over 93 games at Double-A, he hit .260 with 19 home runs. He’s a first-base-only defender, but the bat is what matters here, and continued progress could push him onto the big league radar.
DePino is also headed to Arizona in October for the fall league, just like Caleb Bonemer.
High-A Winston-Salem belonged to OF George Wolkow, who spent 2026 showing exactly why the White Sox were willing to bet on the upside. Drafted in the 2023 class, Wolkow came in as a classic boom-or-bust player, and the organization backed that belief by giving him third-round money as a seventh-round pick.
After two years in Kannapolis, he moved up to Winston-Salem at age 20 and stayed there all season. In 123 games, Wolkow slashed .239/.317/.446 with 22 home runs and 100 RBIs.
The strikeout total was hefty - 179 - but he also improved his contact rate and kept the power playing. The White Sox will likely send him back to High-A to open 2027, still convinced there’s more coming.
At Low-A Kannapolis, OF Jaden Fauske gave the organization a different kind of encouraging season. He was the second of two straight prep players the White Sox selected to start the 2025 MLB draft, and he spent all of 2026 in his first pro full-season assignment.
The 19-year-old hit .250/.388/.360 with a .748 OPS, along with four home runs. The power wasn’t the headline, and that’s not surprising for a player his age who still needs to add strength.
What stood out more was the strike-zone feel: Fauske drew 94 walks, a strong indicator of how advanced his approach already is. He’s likely to start 2027 back at Low-A, but a hot start could move him quickly.
He remains one of the more interesting names to watch in the White Sox system.
In Other News...
Chris Sales Don Cooper Tribute Hit White Sox Fans Hard
Chris Sale was sharp on the mound Tuesday night, fanning 10 over 5 innings as the Braves handled the Reds, but the bigger moment came after the final out. Sale turned reflective when the conversation shifted to Don Cooper, his first major league pitching coach, whose death was announced earlier in the day.
For White Sox fans, the tribute hit especially hard because Cooper was such a central figure in Sales rise. Sale spoke warmly about the coachs influence on his career and shared personal stories that underscored just how much of a presence Cooper had been, not only in shaping a left-hander who became one of the games best, but in leaving a mark that still resonates years later. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Let First Place Slip Away In Another Costly Missed Chance
The White Sox had a chance to climb back into first place and instead let another one slip away in a 5-4 loss to the Royals, a game that felt winnable after Chicago answered an early Kansas City lead with a strong third inning to even things up. Instead, the Royals kept applying pressure and found the go-ahead run in the seventh, turning what had been a back-and-forth afternoon into another missed opportunity for a club trying to keep pace in the AL Central.
Colson Montgomerys night summed up some of the frustration, as he struck out three times and now ties the White Sox single-season strikeout record. For a team already dealing with the sting of a game it could not finish, that became another reminder of how thin the margin is when chances to reclaim the division lead come along and then get away. [Read more 🡒]
Randal Grichuk Is Entering Rare White Sox Territory
Randal Grichuks latest burst at the plate offered another reminder that the White Sox may have found something unusually productive in a very narrow role. His 4-for-5 game against the Royals, which came close to a cycle, fit the broader profile he has built this season: loud contact, real damage when he plays, and almost all of it coming against left-handed pitching. Over 97 games and 234 plate appearances, he has put together a .306/.333/.608 line, the kind of production that does not look like a fluke anymore even if it arrives in a carefully managed workload.
What makes Grichuk stand out in White Sox circles is not just the numbers, but the historical lane he appears to be entering. The organization has had its share of useful platoon bats over the years, but the case being made here is that Grichuk could wind up as the best strictly platoon-limited player the White Sox have ever deployed, based on OPS+ and playing time. For a club that has spent plenty of seasons searching for offense in all the usual places, finding that kind of value in a specialized role is noteworthy, even if the full measure of it will depend on how long this run lasts. [Read more 🡒]