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In some past seasons, we’ve written up every pick the White Sox make in the draft with individual stories. This year, we’ll let a constantly-updated Day 2 draft tracker do all the work, but overall we will have individual features on the first five White Sox picks (Nos. 1, 34, 44, 77, 105).
An exciting twist to our coverage this year is having Melissa Sage-Bollenbach in Philadelphia and on the grounds covering for us. That should mean details and quotes you won’t see anywhere else, as well as video and other postings on all our social media channels (@southsidesox.bsky.social on Blue Sky, South Side Sox on Facebook, @sss_south_side_sox on Instagram, @southsidesox_ on TikTok, @sss_south_side_sox on Threads and @SouthSideSox on Twitter/X).
To kick off our coverage of today’s five picks and the following 16 on Sunday, here’s a How to Watch guide. But really, let us do the heavy lifting and just stay tuned to the real-time updates of South Side Sox!
2026 MLB draft
Day 1: Saturday, July 11 (Rounds 1-4)
Noon-12:30 p.m. CT Preview show (NBC/Peacock)
12:30-1:30 p.m. CT Lottery picks 1-10 (NBC/Peacock)
1:30-3:30 p.m. CT Picks 11-40 (MLB Network, MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
3:30-6:45 p.m. CT Picks 41-135 (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
Day 2: Sunday, July 12 (Rounds 5-20)
10:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. CT Rounds 5-20 (MLB.com, MLB.TV, MLB+)
The 2026 MLB draft is in Philadelphia this year as part of MLB All-Star Week. First-day coverage of the draft is extensive, with interviews of newly-drafted players, highlight packages, real-time analysis from MLB’s experts, footage from team draft rooms and interviews with front office personnel. Sunday’s coverage will be exhaustive, covering every pick, but the nature of buzzing through hundreds of picks means that the broadcast mostly consists of stock-ticker reporting in rapid-fire fashion.
MLB draft primer
After trading Jacob Gonzalez to the Pirates, the White Sox the largest draft pool in baseball: $20,489,500. Each pick of the first 10 rounds has an assigned slot value, and adding up all of those pick values determines the bonus pool. Teams can spend more or less on any draft choice in any round, all the way down to Round 20.
Overall, teams are allowed to exceed their allotted pool by up to 5% — but teams are taxed 75% on any spending beyond the bonus pool; if the White Sox sign their 21 draft choices for $21 million, they’ll have to pay a 75% tax on that extra $510,500. (For a Jerry Reinsdorf-run team, don’t expect to see the White Sox exceeding their bonus pool.) And if a team was to exceed their bonus pool by more than 5%, it’s viewed as “cheating” and results in higher penalties and a loss of future draft picks — NO TEAM has ever done this.
Players picked in Rounds 11–20 have slot values of $150,000 — but it’s all “free” money in that it does not count against the bonus pool. Any contract of more than $150,000 results in the extra payment counting against the pool (if the total used to sign Round 11-20 selections adds up to $1.5 million, the White Sox will have all $20,489,500 to spend on their Round 1-10 picks, but if the total added up to $3 million, the bonus pool to sign Round 1-10 draftees will be just $18,989,500. The White Sox are very likely to lowball a few selections with no other options (players sign for as little as $10,000) to free up money in the latter half of the draft, rather than cannibalize the more precious bonus-pool monies.
White Sox top 11 draft pick slot values
Round 1 (No. 1) $11,350,600
Competitive Balance Round A (via Pirates) (No. 34) $2,897,400
Round 2 (No. 41): $2,446,100
Round 3 (No. 77): $1,086,600
Round 4 (No. 105): $747,700
Round 5 (No. 137): $547,700
Round 6 (No. 166): $413,900
Round 7 (No. 195): $325,100
Round 8 (No. 225): $256,500
Round 9 (No. 255): $217,000
Round 10 (No. 285): $200,900
Total Pool $20,489,500
White Sox picks Round 11-20
11th Round No. 315
12th Round No. 345
13th Round No. 375
14th Round No. 405
15th Round No. 435
16th Round No. 465
17th Round No. 495
18th Round No. 525
19th Round No. 555
20th Round No. 585
Finally, if you’d like your own “White Sox draft preview show” as you wait for the action to begin, here’s director of scouting Mike Shirley on Friday’s broadcast, talking draft:
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