​The kid always believed he would get here. When he was small, Roch Cholowsky wrote letters promising that one day he would play in Yankee Stadium. Before he passed up an opportunity to climb high in the MLB draft straight out of high school, the talented shortstop spoke with a local television reporter, declaring that his goal was to be the top pick but that he needed to refine his craft by attending UCLA. “I saved it,” Roch’s mother, Tika Cholowsky, recently told the California Post, “and I was going through some stuff and I saw that and I just thought, ‘Wow.’”
Roch Cholowsky of the UCLA Bruins batted in the fourth inning against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Duane Banks Field on March 28, 2026, in Iowa City, Iowa. Diamond Images/Getty Images. Wow indeed.
Fulfilling his own prophecy, Roch Cholowsky on Saturday became the top pick. The White Sox—one of the handful of teams that had been in touch with Cholowsky when he was in high school—made Cholowsky the first No. 1 overall selection from UCLA since Gerrit Cole in 2011. It wasn’t exactly a shock. Cholowsky had been widely anticipated to be the top pick even before a junior season that solidified his status as the most promising player in college baseball.
During his junior year, he earned the Big Ten’s Player of the Year honor for the second consecutive season, joining Barry Larkin and Luke Appert as the only conference players to win the award back-to-back. Big Ten coaches didn’t offer soft votes. Roch Cholowsky of the UCLA Bruins celebrated during a game against the St. Mary’s Gaels at Jackie Robinson Stadium on May 29, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images
Once again, Cholowsky proved himself the conference’s most dominant force. He posted a .320 batting average, drove in 60 runs, and led the team with 21 home runs while absorbing a program-record 25 hit-by-pitches, underscoring his fearless presence at the plate and his readiness to take a pitch for the big moment. A pro scout who watched Cholowsky told The Post that “he’s got all the tools” and compared him to Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story, a two-time All-Star.
“His best tool for that position is going to be the arm, then the glove, then the range,” the scout said of Cholowsky, “but he can play shortstop and he’s got power—it’s a great profile overall.” The potential he showed at UCLA also sits atop a legacy of baseball excellence within his family.
Cholowsky’s father, Daniel, was a Hall of Fame infielder at Cal before being selected as a supplemental first-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1991. He never played in the big leagues, but he built a long career as a professional scout and a steady, nurturing influence on his son. “Never, ever did I see him—not once—get on Roch from the time he was little until even now after a game,” Tika Cholowsky said. “I’ve seen parents get on their kids and say, ‘Why didn’t you do this?’ right after a game. Never once did I see my husband do that.”