The 2026 MLB Draft is over, and the White Sox targeted outfielders and power bats.
This year’s signing deadline is July 22, although the White Sox are expected to ink at least 20 of their picks. As you are probably aware, each pick in the draft is assigned a specific and unique value, and the sum of those values is the amount a team is allowed to spend on their draft selections.
For the first 10 rounds of the draft, every dollar spent counts against that total (the bonus pool). All picks after the 10th Round are assigned $150,000 as the signing bonus; players can be (and often are) signed for more or less than that — but anything more than $150,00 counts against the bonus pool.
HOWEVER, teams are allowed to overspend their bonus pool by up to 5%. If a team spends more than 105% of their bonus pool, stiff penalties are introduced: the loss of future draft picks. For this reason, under these rules no MLB team has ever exceeded that 5% overage.
There are various strategies employed to maximize pick value, which often ends up on the backs of college seniors with no leverage (i.e. cannot refuse to sign/return to school); the White Sox in fact have paid signing bonuses as little as $10,000 or perhaps $5,000 under such circumstances. The unused money is then poured into enticing one of the “money picks” (Nos. 1-10, but more likely in the first five rounds) to sign. Or, as was the case DJ Gladney in 2019, a “steal” in the lower 10s of the draft will have such savings steered to him to ensure signing/eschewing a college scholarship commitment.
Our tracker is below. Scroll right for additional details, and scroll all the way down for details on undrafted free agent signings.
2026 White Sox Draft Signing Tracker
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Director of scouting Mike Shirley has indicated already that 20th Round pick Connor Fennell may not be signed, as he was chosen as insurance against another player refusing to agree to terms or not passing his physical. But with 21 picks, the White Sox will very likely ink at least 20 players out of this draft.
If a player doesn’t sign with the White Sox, the money slotted for their pick is lost; it cannot be used to sign other players in the draft class. The White Sox would, however, get a compensation pick in 2027 that is one slot lower. That is, if the White Sox failed to sign Cole Prosek, they would get the No. 42 pick in the 2027 draft. If a pick lower than the first two rounds doesn’t sign, the White Sox get a compensatory pick the next year at the end of the round; if third-rounder Joey Volchko doesn’t come to terms, the White Sox will get an extra pick at the end of 2027’s third round.
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