White Sox select SS Caleb Bonemer in the second round of the 2024 draft (No. 43 overall)

An aggressive pick that begs a question of what other moves Chicago has up its sleeve

With the 43rd pick in the 2024 MLB draft, the White Sox used their second round pick on shortstop Caleb Bonemer of Okemos H.S. (Mich.).

Not much to say here beyond this being a stretch of a pick. When the most notable thing the MLB Network panel has to say is that he had been in the middle of the first round in some early mock drafts, yeah, it’s a stretch. MLB had the University of Virginia commit pegged as its No. 71 prospect overall.

Scouts praise Bonemer’s power-speed combination, but also peg the 6´1´´, 195-pounder as “stiff” and a player who might not be able to translate into a pro shortstop, suggesting a shift to third is in order.

On the plus side, Bonemer was Michigan’s baseball player of the year for both 2023 and 2024, which is a pretty dominant achievement. Last summer — undoubtedly the time he was being forecast as a first-rounder — Bonemer killed it one both the Perfect Game and Area Code circuits.

That said, born in early October 2005, Bonemer perhaps was destined to become a White Sox.