Jackson Appel
Catcher
5´11´´
200 pounds
Age: 25
2025 South Side Sox Top 100 Ranking 60
2026 South Side Sox Top 100 Ranking
77
2026 High Level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level +2.0 years
SSS rank among all catchers in the system 9
Overall 2025 MiLB stats (ACL/High-A) 21 games ⚾️ 2 HR ⚾️ 7 RBI ⚾️ .197/.363/.311 ⚾️ 1-of-1 (100%) SB ⚾️ 13 BB ⚾️ 13 K ⚾️ 4-of-22 (18.2%) CS ⚾️ .995 FLD% ⚾️ 0.3 WAR
The Sox drafted Jackson Appel in Round 6 (No. 169) in 2024. The catcher played four years at the
University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of Business. He then took an extra year of COVID-19 eligibility and served as the starting backstop for the 2024 College World Series runner-up, the Texas A&M Aggies. You may recognize the name of one of his teammates — Braden Montgomery — also a 2024 first-rounder.
Chicago seems bound and determined to stock up on as many young catchers as they can after decades of homegrown drought at the position. Appel is impressive both at and behind the dish, and he has earned numerous accolades throughout his collegiate career, including All-Ivy League and All-SEC First Team nods. In 2024 with the Aggies, the switch-hitter demonstrated both pop and contact, slashing .331/.422/.534 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs. The 23-year-old also recorded a 26-game on-base streak and led the team with 26 multi-hit performances.
And hey, the defense isn’t shabby, either. With a .997 fielding percentage, Appel was one of the best defensive catchers in Division I in 2024.
Appel also got to show off his stuff for a dozen games with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers after the draft, and he didn’t disappoint. He hit .268/.400/.390, including one dinger and six RBIs. On the receiving end, he was equally impressive, earning a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage over 111 putouts.
The 2025 season was more of the same for Appel, in that he remained an extreme bat discipline player (which dovetailed with a movement by the White Sox to collect more patience at the plate/contact hitters, though that movement was fleeting) with little power. His defense remains very sound, his arm holding its own in a very challenging caught-stealing environment. Appel added a dimension not seen in his career beyond a final year of college ball: wheels; the catcher proved sly on the basepaths, swiping 11 of 13 bags.
The White Sox were modestly aggressive with Appel in 2025, possibly due to age, moving him right up to High-A Winston-Salem. He remained with the Dash all season, and his solid overall game and SEC pedigree seemed to put Double-A Birmingham within reach after he slashed .248/.387/.318 with a .705 OPS.
Instead, his second full professional season barely got off the ground.
Appel landed on the injured list on April 14, 2026, with an undisclosed injury and did not begin a rehab assignment until July 22. He appeared in just 21 games, including 19 with Winston-Salem. In 58 at-bats for the Dash, he hit .190/.329/.259 with a .588 OPS, one double, one home run and five RBIs. The familiar patience remained, with 12 walks against 12 strikeouts, but there wasn’t much opportunity to turn it into production.
Heading into 2027, the 25-year-old needs a healthy stretch behind the plate to get his development moving again. His plate discipline and previously solid defensive work still give him something to build on, but the lost time leaves him with more to prove — especially with the age clock ticking — before earning that trip to Birmingham.
Full 2027 South Side Sox Top 100 White Sox Prospects Storystream
