UCLA’s rough finish to the college season didn’t stop Roch Cholowsky from cashing in on the biggest stage in baseball.
The Bruins entered the year ranked No. 1 and stayed there all the way through the season, but their postseason fell apart. UCLA was without ace Logan Reddeman, who missed the Big Ten tournament and the final four games of the regular season, and the offense couldn’t make up the difference. With the pitching staff and the bats both coming up short, UCLA became the second-ever No. 1 overall seed to fail to reach the NCAA tournament super regionals.
Then came the draft, and Cholowsky gave the program a major jolt of good news. The Chicago White Sox took the UCLA shortstop with the No. 1 overall pick.
Cholowsky had been projected to go first overall from the start of the season, and his numbers backed it up. As a sophomore, he put together a monster year, hitting .353 with 23 home runs, 89 hits, 74 RBIs, a .710 slugging percentage and a .480 on-base percentage. That season earned him Big Ten Player of the Year honors and first-team All-American recognition.
His junior year wasn’t quite at that same level, but he was still one of the top players in college baseball. Cholowsky hit .320 with 21 home runs, 73 hits, 60 RBIs, a .636 slugging percentage and a .452 on-base percentage. He repeated as Big Ten Player of the Year and landed on the First Team All-American list again.
And it wasn’t just the bat that made him the top pick. Cholowsky is also a high-end defender at shortstop, with a 60 grade on defense that places him among the elite at the position.
The White Sox, meanwhile, have gone from one of MLB’s biggest punchlines to one of this season’s biggest surprises. After back-to-back 100-loss seasons over the last two years, Chicago is sitting at 48-45 and, if the season ended today, would win the AL Central and claim the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.
Cholowsky has already completed his junior year, making him a more polished prospect than Grady Emerson, who just turned 18 and finished his senior year of high school. With the season at its halfway point, Cholowsky could even step in right away as a pinch-hitter and help Chicago stay on top in the AL Central.
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For UCLA, the appeal is obvious: Martin brings experience, pedigree and a versatility that can raise the ceiling of a defense that always needs more reliable pieces in the back end. The Bruins are betting on a player who has already seen different systems, different expectations and different levels of pressure, and that kind of background can matter in a secondary where communication and trust are everything. What remains to be seen is how quickly that promise translates in Westwood, and whether Martin can turn a long, winding college path into a real impact for UCLA. [Read more 🡒]