Chicago White Sox 2026 Arizona Fall League Preview
While most eyes around the White Sox will be focused on Cleveland Saturday afternoon, another part of the organization will begin its own October schedule in Arizona.
Game 1 of the American League Division Series starts at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT at Progressive Field. Two and a half hours later, the Glendale Desert Dogs open Arizona Fall League play against the Salt River Rafters at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT.
Chicago is sending nine prospects to Glendale. Five appeared on the FutureSox mid-season Top 30, led by No. 2 prospect Caleb Bonemer. Colby Shelton and Anthony DePino are the other ranked position players, while Mathias LaCombe and Pierce George headline the pitching group.
The Desert Dogs will feature prospects from the White Sox, Dodgers, Braves, Marlins and Pirates. Glendale is also the only Fall League club with four current MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects on its roster. Bonemer ranks No. 27 overall and is joined by Eduardo Quintero, Tate Southisene and Charles Davalan. Fifteen Top 100 prospects are scheduled to play in the league.
The AFL runs from Oct. 3 through the championship game on Nov. 14. The Home Run Derby is scheduled for Nov. 7, followed by the Fall Stars Game the next night. Every regular-season game will be streamed free through MLB.com.
Fall League assignments can serve several purposes. Some players receive more work against advanced competition, while others make up for missed time or get one more evaluation before offseason roster decisions. Those different motivations are easy to find within the White Sox group. Bonemer will continue learning center field, while three of the pitchers have an immediate 40-man decision ahead. LaCombe, Garrett Wright and Nick Altermatt will all be Rule 5 eligible if they are not protected this winter.
One prominent prospect will not be there. No. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky was shut down in August with right wrist tendinitis after nine games with Winston-Salem. White Sox minor league director Paul Janish said in September that Cholowsky would not participate in the Fall League as the organization prepares him for his first full professional season.
Caleb Bonemer, INF/OF
Bonemer is the headliner of the White Sox contingent and one of the most accomplished hitters headed to Arizona.
The 20-year-old finished his second professional season hitting .251/.380/.550 with 37 home runs in 132 games between Winston-Salem and Birmingham. He drove in 92 runs and stole 17 bases while producing a .930 OPS. His 37 homers ranked fifth in the minors.
Bonemer’s breakout has also pushed him up national prospect rankings. Just Baseball ranks him No. 35 overall, while Baseball America has him at No. 28.
His work in center field could draw just as much attention as the bat.
Bonemer spent most of his professional career on the dirt before the White Sox started using him in center field late this season. He made his first appearance there on Aug. 26. Bonemer told Jim Margalus of Sox Machine that the original plan was to introduce him to the outfield during the AFL before the organization decided to get an earlier start in Birmingham.
The additional defensive work did not come at the expense of his production. Bonemer struck out in 29.1% of his plate appearances at Winston-Salem, then lowered that rate to 25.2% after reaching Double-A. His power traveled with him as well. He hit 18 homers in 61 High-A games before adding 19 more in 71 games for Birmingham.
Arizona will give Bonemer several more weeks to learn routes and reads in center without giving up meaningful plate appearances. MLB Pipeline specifically identified his work in the outfield as one of the White Sox storylines to follow in Glendale.
Bonemer enters the desert with high expectations as well. MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis picked him to win Arizona Fall League MVP. Adam Engel became the first White Sox prospect to win the award in 2015, while Colson Montgomery won Fall Stars Game MVP in 2023.
Colby Shelton, INF
Shelton’s first full professional season looked very different from his brief debut in 2025.
After hitting .141 with Kannapolis last summer, the 2025 sixth-round pick opened this year by batting .339/.464/.661 with seven home runs in 31 games for Winston-Salem. That start earned him a promotion to Birmingham in May and eventually helped him climb 11 spots to No. 18 on the FutureSox mid-season list.
Double-A provided a tougher test. Shelton hit .170/.240/.327 over his first two months in Birmingham before finding more consistent production later in the summer. He finished the full season at .244/.338/.488 with 24 home runs and 34 doubles across 127 games. The Fall League will give him another month against that same caliber of pitching.
Shelton’s long-term position is still unsettled. He has moved between second base, shortstop and third base during his first two professional seasons. He expressed comfort at all three spots, giving the White Sox flexibility while the organization sorts through an increasingly crowded group of young infielders.
Mathias LaCombe, RHP
LaCombe expected to start 2026. By the end of September, the move to relief had carried him all the way to Triple-A.
Shoulder soreness delayed his season and sent him to the Arizona Complex League before he joined Winston-Salem. The White Sox used him almost exclusively out of the bullpen from there. LaCombe eventually advanced through Birmingham and reached Charlotte for the final series of the season.
The 24-year-old finished with a 4.20 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 49.1 innings. Only two of his 35 appearances came as a starter. FutureSox ranked LaCombe No. 20 at mid-season. The move to relief has allowed him to lean on a fastball that has reached 98 mph and a low-80s sweeper that misses bats. That role could give him a quicker route to Chicago than returning to the rotation.
LaCombe is Rule 5 eligible this winter, which puts added weight on the Fall League assignment. Glendale will offer one more look before the organization makes its 40-man roster decision.
Anthony DePino, 1B
DePino needed only 32 games at Winston-Salem before joining Bonemer and Shelton in Birmingham.
The seventh-round pick from the 2025 draft hit .262/.363/.481 during his first full professional season. He finished with 25 home runs and 82 RBI across 125 games while posting an .839 OPS after the promotion to Double-A.
That production moved DePino into the FutureSox Top 30 at No. 24. The power was backed by some of the strongest exit velocities in the system. Thomas Nestico of TJStats measured a 114 mph maximum exit velocity and a 106.4 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity during the season.
There are still areas for DePino to work on in Arizona. His strikeout rate increased from 23% in May to 32% in August.
His regular season ended early after a collision at first base resulted in a concussion, but DePino was activated from the injured list ahead of his Fall League assignment. He also expects to continue getting work at third base after playing almost all of his defensive innings at first this year.
For a player whose bat carried him from High-A to Double-A in a matter of weeks, the AFL provides another month to see how the offensive profile holds up against quality pitching.
Pierce George, RHP
George opened the season in Kannapolis. He finished it pitching for Charlotte.
The climb became possible because George started throwing considerably more strikes. George walked 45 hitters in 47.2 innings during 2025, but his walk rate fell from 19.3% to 10.3% this season. FutureSox moved the former 13th-round pick into the mid-season Top 30 at No. 26.
His final line reflected that progress. George posted a 3.56 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 65.2 innings. He made 51 relief appearances and finished with a 1.11 WHIP while pitching for all four full-season White Sox affiliates.
The velocity has never been difficult to find.
George’s first Triple-A appearance provided Statcast data on the arsenal. His fastball averaged 99.3 mph and exceeded 100 four times. His curveball averaged 2,716 rpm and his fastball topped out at 101.8 mph this season.
The focus in Glendale will be whether George can maintain the control gains that fueled his rise through the system. If that carries over, he could enter spring training with a legitimate chance to push for a bullpen role in 2027.
Other White Sox to Watch
Garrett Wright may be the most interesting name among the unranked White Sox prospects headed out to the desert.
The White Sox selected Wright in the 20th round out of TCU in 2023. He totaled only 16.2 innings during his first two professional seasons before finally getting an extended run this year. Wright climbed three levels and finished with a 4.20 ERA, 77 strikeouts and a .181 opponent average across 55.2 innings.
MLB Pipeline identified Wright as its White Sox sleeper prospect for the Fall League. The right-hander works at 95-98 mph with his fastball and uses an 87-90 mph slider that generated plenty of swings and misses this season. Like LaCombe, Wright is also Rule 5 eligible this winter.
Nick Altermatt faces the same roster decision after reaching Charlotte in August. The 26-year-old posted a 2.86 ERA with 54 strikeouts over 56.2 innings between Birmingham and Charlotte. He allowed only 48 hits in 40 appearances.
Jonathan Clark brings another swing-and-miss relief profile to Glendale. The 26-year-old spent most of the season with Birmingham and finished with a 4.10 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 59.1 innings. At the mid-season break, his 18.7% swinging-strike rate ranked among the best marks for White Sox pitchers at High-A or above.
Grant Magill rounds out the White Sox contingent behind the plate. He hit .237/.297/.366 this season, but his throwing was a strength. Magill caught 32 of 79 runners attempting to steal with Birmingham after throwing out 20 of 60 at Winston-Salem.
His familiarity with the pitching staff could also help. Magill has already caught all five White Sox pitchers headed to Glendale. George, LaCombe, Clark and Wright spent time with him between Winston-Salem and Birmingham, while Altermatt threw to him for two months before his promotion to Charlotte.
Last fall, Braden Montgomery and Hagen Smith were the two Top 100 prospects headlining the White Sox contingent in this same preview.
One year later, both were on Chicago’s Wild Card Series roster in Houston. Smith started Game 1 and Montgomery started in right field as the White Sox advanced to the ALDS.
That does not mean this year’s Glendale group will follow the same timetable, but the jump from the Fall League to October baseball shows how quickly these names can become relevant in Chicago.
