New Prospect Ranking Is Laughably Low On White Sox Prospects
As Spring Training will be up and running in just a few weeks, most major baseball outlets have released their newly updated top-100 prospect lists. Most outlets were fans of the White Sox farm system, as they have five to six White Sox prospects on these lists.
The consensus around the league is that Braden Montgomery, Caleb Bonemer, Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz, and Billy Carlson are all top-100 prospects. Baseball America even went one step further and added Tanner McDougal to the list, giving the White Sox six top-100 prospects.
White Sox prospects are all over our Top 100 list:
26. Noah Schultz
27. Caleb Bonemer
73. Braden Montgomery
91. Hagen Smith
92. Billy Carlson
100. Tanner McDougalSee the full Top 100: https://t.co/voqCuG0DY0 pic.twitter.com/JAu5cy4MJg
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) January 29, 2026
This is great news for White Sox fans, as even after having multiple top-100 prospects debut last season, the White Sox have reloaded and have more waiting in the wings. If that isn’t impressive enough, come July, the White Sox will likely add a consensus top-10 prospect in Roch Cholowsky.
However, one outlet has departed from the league consensus and has seemingly soured on most of the White Sox prospects, as their list does not match up with the other lists across the league.
According to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN’s top-100 prospect list, the White Sox only have three top-100 prospects, with two barely making the list. McDaniel has Bonemer ranked at number 34, but has Noah Schultz at 96 and Billy Carlson at 100. While I enjoy the Bonemer hype, Schultz and Carlson are a bit low for my liking.
For comparison, Baseball America has Schultz at 26 and MLB Pipeline has him at 49. While ESPN’s ranking on Carlson is a bit more on par with the other outlets, it is still the lowest ranking of the three. Baseball America has him at 92 and MLB Pipeline has him at 73.
However, the more absurd rankings are the ones who didn’t make the top-100, as McDaniel also released a list from 101-200. This is where it gets even more frustrating as a White Sox fan. On this list he ranks Hagen Smith at 127, Tanner McDougal at 164, and Braden Montgomery at 189. Yes you read that right, he has Braden Montgomery as the 189th ranked prospect in all of baseball.
With Baseball America ranking Montgomery at 73 and MLB Pipeline ranking him at 36, it makes no sense to have him that low. There should not be a 153 or 116 prospect ranking difference from some of the more trusted prospect ranking sites, especially for a former first round pick who played very well in his first professional season.
This is a very interesting list to say the least, and Montgomery and Smith will get a chance to prove McDaniel wrong this season, as both will likely be up in Chicago around the trade deadline, if not sooner. The White Sox did a good job of developing their prospects last season and they will look to continue that trend with this new group of players.