2025 South Side Sox Prospect Vote: Round 1
Who is the best prospect in the White Sox system?
It is the eighth year of Top Prospect voting at South Side Sox!
First, let’s review past years:
- Here’s how 2018 wrangled out — all 42 picks. Also, here’s an archive of every article in the 2018 series.
- Here’s how 2019 came together, all 50 picks, and the archive as well.
- Now 2020, with the archive.
- Here’s the 2021 wrap-up of just 35 picks due to flagging participation, along with the full archive.
- Here’s the 2022 link to the 27-pick wrap, along with the full archive.
- Round 24 of voting was 2023’s last (we didn’t do an actual wrap for last year’s voting, but Jordan Sprinkle ended up being our final pick!), and the full archive.
- A year ago, Abraham Núñez was our 34th pick to end the series, and here’s the wrap-up post and full archive of each profile.
After this voting kick-off, we’ll begin our Top 100 Prospect countdown over at Sox Populi, starting with Connor McCullough as our Mr. 100. We’ll try for a daily Top 100 entry over there, and the Prospect Vote here will turn over as soon as the top vote-getter seems to have an insurmountable lead — but we’ll take no longer than a week to vote each round.
Our staff voters have an-almost unanimous No. 1 prospect, with one holdout. Will you agree?
We have eight players from last year’s 100 Top Prospects on our initial ballot this year, as one 2024 Top 10 player matriculated from rookie status (Dominic Fletcher) and another was traded out of the organization (José Rodríguez). All 10 players on this first 2025 ballot were in the system in 2024.
Last year, Lenyn Sosa was spending his sixth year among our Top 100 Prospects; that seemed amazing, but this year we have FOUR players entering their sixth year on the list: Bryan Ramos, Caleb Freeman, DJ Gladney and Drew Dalquist. (Ramos, in fact, is the definition of a steady climber, beginning at No. 33 in 2020 and improving each year, to No. 21 in 2021, No. 10 in 2022, No. 3 in 2023 and, well, he dropped to No. 4 last year.) Interestingly, we have no players in their fifth year on the ballot, which would seem to be a consequence of the short draft and lost pandemic season in 2020.
All right, let’s have some fun. And get voting!
Mason Adams
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Age 25
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 29
2024 High Level Charlotte (AAA)
Age relative to high level -3.0 years
Overall 2024 stats 7-5 ▪️ 23 games (22 starts, one finish) ▪️ 1 CG ▪️ 120 1⁄3 IP ▪️ 2.92 ERA ▪️ 110 K ▪️ 28 BB ▪️ 1.146 WHIP
At every level, Adams is not considered the ace of the rotation. And at every level, Adams pitches like the ace of the rotation. His sneaky greatness could find fans sleeping on him even as he steps to the mound for his major league debut — a game likely to happen in 2025.
Brooks Baldwin
Shortstop
Age 24
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 26
2024 High Level Chicago (MLB)
Age relative to high level -4.7 years
Overall 2024 MiLB stats 82 games ▪️ 8 HR ▪️ 41 RBI ▪️ .324/.391/.460 ▪️ 17-of-22 (77.2%) SB ▪️ 33 BB ▪️ 58 K ▪️ .976 FLD%
This time a year ago, Baldwin hadn’t played any higher than High-A Winston-Salem. After a somewhat aggressive assignment to Birmingham to start 2024, he hopped on the express train to the majors. Presumably he is the incumbent South Side shortstop to start 2025, although so far in the majors the plurality of his time has been at second base.
Jairo Iriarte
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Age 23
2024 High Level Chicago (MLB)
Age relative to high level -7.0 years
Overall 2024 MiLB stats 5-7 ▪️ 23 games (22 starts, 1 finish) ▪️ 126 IP ▪️ 3.71 ERA ▪️ 122 K ▪️ 57 BB ▪️ 1.278 WHIP
As the co-headliner (or darn close) of the Dylan Cease trade last spring, it was no surprise when GM Chris Getz touted Iriarte as sure to get a call-up to the majors by season’s end. Almost every moment of his 2024 pointed in that direction, as he dominated at Double-A. Following a trend that also included Drew Thorpe and Bryan Ramos, Iriarte was one of the two September call-ups to begin September and worked out of the bullpen for six innings to end the season. He’s on the short list to break camp with the big club this spring.
Colson Montgomery
Shortstop
Age 23
2022 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 5
2023 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 2
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 1
2024 High Level Charlotte (AAA)
Age relative to high level -4.3 years
Overall 2024 stats 130 games ▪️ 18 HR ▪️ 63 RBI ▪️ .214/.329/.381 ▪️ 88 wRC+ ▪️ 69 BB ▪️ 164 K ▪️ 8-of-10 (80%) SB ▪️ .963 FLD%
A year ago, Montgomery was a “can’t-miss” prospect. But after a dreadful year in Charlotte that served to prove he had a power stroke but not much else, at all, there’s a bit of tarnish. His second straight AFL season yielded a buff 1.167 OPS over 11 games and Colson ended his Charlotte season with a bit of a sprint, so perhaps 2025 will yield good things, quickly.
Edgar Quero
Catcher
Age 21
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 4
2024 High Level Charlotte (AAA)
Age relative to high level -5.3 years
Overall 2024 stats 98 games ▪️ 16 HR ▪️ 70 RBI ▪️ .280/.366/.463 ▪️ 123 wRC+ (AAA) ▪️ 39 BB ▪️ 70 K ▪️ 24-of-116 (20.7%) CS ▪️ .984 FLD%
No matter the level, Quero is almost unquestionably the best position player prospect in the system, and likely the only can’t-miss player in the organization. He will almost certainly make his major league debut in 2025.
Bryan Ramos
Third Baseman
Age 23
2020 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 38
2021 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 22
2022 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 12
2023 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 3
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 4
2024 High Level Chicago (MLB)
Age relative to high level -4.3 years
Overall 2024 MiLB stats 88 games ▪️ 10 HR ▪️ 44 RBI ▪️ .242/.320/.387 ▪️ 98 wRC+ (AAA) ▪️ 31 BB ▪️ 86 K ▪️ 8-of-11 (72.7%) SB ▪️ .952 FLD%
Once again slowed by injury, Ramos slumped all season in spite of making the jump from Double-A to the majors. Third base should be his to lose in spring training, however.
Noah Schultz
Left-handed starting pitcher
Age 21
2023 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 6
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 2
2024 High Level Birmingham (AA)
Age relative to high level -4.5 years
Overall 2024 stats 0-4 ▪️ 23 starts ▪️ 88 2⁄3 IP ▪️ 2.24 ERA ▪️ 115 K ▪️ 24 BB ▪️ 0.985 WHIP
Schultz has ascended to the near-unanimous No. 1 prospect in the White Sox system despite getting extreme protection by the parent club (Schultz has never thrown as many as five innings in a single pro start). Unless the White Sox plan to push him to the majors in a Chris Sale/Garrett Crochet bullpen role before a transition to the rotation, Schultz may not see much of the majors in 2025.
Hagen Smith
Left-handed starting pitcher
Age 21
2024 High Level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level -3.0 years
Overall 2024 NCAA stats 9-2 ▪️ 16 starts ▪️ 84 IP ▪️ 2.04 ERA ▪️ 161 K ▪️ 34 BB ▪️ 1.174 WHIP
The White Sox have a type! Smith was the club’s first round choice last summer, in spite of a desperate need for bats. Dare we pretend the surprising choice was due to Smith’s ascendant stardom rather than draft room incompetence? The early returns are solid, as Smith dipped his toe into High-A last summer and will be ready for a Double-A challenge by 2025’s end.
Grant Taylor
Right-handed starting pitcher
Age 22
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 15
2024 High Level Kannapolis (Low-A)
Age relative to high level +0.3 years
Overall 2024 stats 0-0 ▪️ 5 starts ▪️ 19 1⁄3 IP ▪️ 2.33 ERA ▪️ 32 K ▪️ 2 BB ▪️ 0.724 WHIP
The White Sox have made such a commitment to bolstering arms over the past few years, they even use plum selections for injured players like Taylor. The LSU righty finally made his pro debut (post-TJS that robbed him of 2023) and acquitted himself well. Pay particular plaudits to Taylor’s vastly-improved (and a typo, right?) K-BB ratio ... yeah, that’s a 16.0, people.
George Wolkow
Right Fielder
Age 19
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 14
2024 High Level Kannapolis (Low-A)
Age relative to high level -2.5 years
Overall 2024 stats 91 games ▪️ 13 HR ▪️ 56 RBI ▪️ .257/.357/.451 ▪️ 9-of-11 (81.8%) SB ▪️ 47 BB ▪️ 158 K
Just 19, you can forgive some of the holes in Wolkow’s swing and just dream on his speed-power combination moving through the system. He suffered the teenage extremes, from dominance to helplessness, but should be ready to explore High-A in 2025.