As voting winnows, it is likely that smaller margins will determine winners, which in turn will extend voting times longer. With roughly six weeks left in our voting period we still aim to get to at least 40 ballots, but that is hard to guarantee at the moment. After a good sampling of voters, Jake Palisch emerged as the victor — just our second relief pitcher and first southpaw reliever. (With the loss of Peyton Pallette to the Guardians, Palisch is the sole remaining reliever to advance so far.
The lefty earned 14 of 53 (26%) votes:
It was Palisch’s 12th ballot this year. He has never before appeared in our Prospect Vote.
Past No. 20s in the SSS Top Prospect Vote
2025 Ky Bush (22%)
2024 Seth Keener (21%)
2023 Kohl Simas (21%)
2022 Voting lasted only 17 rounds
2021 Luis Gonzalez (23%)
2020 Ian Hamilton (34%)
2019 Bryce Bush (50%)
2018 A.J. Puckett (39%)
Jedixson Paez made a terrific debut on the ballot this round, earning 11 votes and finishing as the runner-up. This round, mighty mite Rikuu Nishida debuts.
South Side Sox Top-Voted White Sox Prospects for 2026
- Braden Mongomery — 59% (Smith 17%, Bonemer 9%, Schultz 7%, Antonacci 3%, Adams/Carlson/McDougal 2%, Fauske/Oppor 0%)
- Hagen Smith — 40% (Bonemer 28%, Schultz 18%, McDougal 5%, Antonacci 4%, Carlson 3%, Bergolla/Oppor 1%, Adams/Fauske 0%)
- Caleb Bonemer — 47% (Schultz 34%, Antonacci 10%, Carlson/McDougal 4%, Bergolla 2%, Adams/Fauske/Oppor/Perez 0%)
- Noah Schultz — 49% (Antonacci 25%, Carlson 11%, McDougal 7%, Adams/Bergolla/Oppor 2%, Perez 1%, Fauske/Lodise 0%)
- Sam Antonacci — 41% (Carlson 25%, McDougal 20%, Bergolla/Perez 4%, Oppor 3%, Adams 2%, Fauske 1%, Diaz/Lodise 0%)
- Tanner McDougal — 39% (Carlson 36%, Bergolla 7%, Adams 6%, Pallette 5%, Fauske 3%, Oppor 2%, Lodise 1%, Diaz/Perez 0%)
- Billy Carlson — 52% (Adams 18%, Oppor 12%, Bergolla 9%, Fauske 5%, Lodise/Pallette/Wolkow 2%, Diaz/Perez 0%)
- Christian Oppor — 24% (Murphy 20%, Adams/Fauske 16%, Wolkow 10%, Bergolla 9%, Lodise/Pallette/Perez 1%, Diaz 0%)
- Shane Murphy — 34% (Adams 20%, Wolkow 13%, Fauske 16%, Bergolla 9%, Palisch 4%, Lodise/Pallette/Perez 1%, Diaz 0%)
- Mason Adams — 43% (Wolkow 22%, Bergolla 11%, Fauske/Pallette 10%, Lodise/Palisch/Perez 2%, Diaz/Hodge 0%)
- Jaden Fauske — 24.0% (Perez 23.5%, Hodge 13.4%, Bergolla 12.9%, Wolkow 8%, Pallette 5%, Diaz/Gonzalez/Lodise/Palisch 3%)
- Jeral Perez — 20% (Umberger 15%, Wolkow 13%, Hodge 12.3%, Palisch 11.9%, Bergolla 11.4%, Lodise 7.3%, Pallette 6.9%, Diaz 2%, Gonzalez 1%)
- Grant Umberger — 28% (Palisch 19%, Wolkow 13%, Bergolla 12%, Hodge 11%, Lodise 10%, Pallette 4%, Diaz 3%, Gonzalez/Larson 1%)
- Mathias LaCombe — 41% (Bergolla 19%, Wolkow 17%, Pallette 7%, Palisch 6%, Gonzalez 4%, Hodge/Lodise 2%, Diaz/Larson 1%)
- William Bergolla — 35% (Wolkow 20%, Pallette/Palisch 13%, Larson 6%, Diaz/Gordon/Lodise 4%, Hodge 2%, Gonzalez 0%)
- George Wolkow — 38% (Pallette 22%, Palisch 12%, Gordon 8%, Lodise 6%, Gonzalez 5%, Batista/Diaz/Larson 3%, Hodge 0%)
- Peyton Pallette — 38% (Palisch 13%, Lodise 11%, Gordon/Larson 10%, Gonzalez 8%, Batista 5%, Diaz 3%, Hodge/Mogollón 2%)
- Blake Larson — 21% (Lodise 18%, J. Gonzalez/Palisch 15%, C. Gonzalez 11%, Gordon 10%, Batista 5%, Mogollón 3%, Hodge 2%, Diaz 0%)
- Ky Bush — 24% (Palisch 19%, C. Gonzalez/Lodise 16%, J. Gonzalez 8%, Gordon/Batista 6%, Mogollón 3%, Diaz 2%, Hodge 0%)
- Jake Palisch — 26% (Paez 21%, Lodise 19%, J. Gonzalez 13%, C. Gonzalez/Gordon 8%, Batista/Hodge/Mogollón 2%, Diaz 0%)
Aldrin Batista
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Age 22
2025 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 6
2025 high level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level -1.2 years
Overall 2025 stats 2-0 ▪️ 7 games (2 starts) ▪️ 14 IP ▪️ 5.79 ERA ▪️ 17 K ▪️ 7 BB ▪️ 1.429 WHIP ▪️-1.2 WAR
Batista was our No. 6-voted player in last year’s poll and top righthander — and then disaster struck, as he started the third Dash game of the season on April 6 and then was out more than four months with a stress fracture in his right (pitching) elbow. His return in late August was iffy, with three poor relief appearances of five. But he ended the season with a scoreless (two-inning) “opener” start, which hopefully reverses the curse for 2026.
Reudis Diaz
Right-handed relief pitcher
Age 20
2025 high level ACL (Rookie)
Age relative to high level -2.1 years
Overall 2025 stats 1-1 ▪️ 1 SV▪️ 21 games (4 finishes) ▪️ 27 2/3 IP ▪️ 2.28.ERA ▪️ 18 K ▪️ 8 BB ▪️ 1.084 WHIP ▪️1.2 WAR
Who? You’re forgiven for being unfamiliar with an extremely young arm who hasn’t yet gotten out of rookie ball, but our No. 77 prospect a year ago (then a starter, repeating the DSL and killing it) made a successful adjustment Stateside. He’ll return to starting in 2026, likely getting his feet wet in Arizona and getting a promotion to Low-A in the second half of the season.
Christian Gonzalez
Right Fielder
Age 19
2025 high level ACL (Rookie)
Age relative to high level -1.6 years
Overall 2025 stats (DSL/ACL) 34 games ▪️ 1 HR ▪️ 14 RBI ▪️ .407/.511/.565 ▪️ 4-of-12 (33.3%) SB ▪️ 19 BB ▪️ 19 K ▪️ .950 FLD%▪️ 1.4 WAR
You cannot better epitomize and exciting — but unpolished — prospect than to stumble across one who hit better than .400, even in a month’s worth of games. But in the process Gonzalez achieved what is thought to be an unprecedented in-season promotion in the White Sox system, from the DSL to ACL. That says a heckuva lot about what the White Sox think of his talent. The hit tool sure seems there, but a player having the speed to play all three outfield spots but succeeding on a comically-bad 33% of steal attempts is going to benefit a ton from Fall Instructional play and 2026 Spring Training work.
Jacob Gonzalez
Second Baseman
Age 23
2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 9
2025 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 24
2025 high level Charlotte (AAA)
Age relative to high level -3.3 years
Overall 2025 stats (AA/AAA) 134 games ▪️ 8 HR ▪️ 61 RBI ▪️ .232/.307/.345 ▪️ 17-of-20 (85.0%) SB ▪️ 48 BB ▪️ 86 K ▪️ .990 FLD%▪️ 3.1 WAR
After the incredible first half/awful second of 2024, Gonzalez rebounded for a solid campaign, the final third of which came in Charlotte. However, his time in Charlotte, a hitter’s playground, was a significant step back on offense. He’s on the cusp of the bigs but has created questions whether he’ll produce at all with the stick on the South Side.
Lucas Gordon
Left-Handed Starting Pitcher
Age 24
2025 high level Birmingham (AA)
Age relative to high level -1.7 years
Overall 2025 stats (High-A/AA) 3-11▪️ 24 starts ▪️ 107 2/3 IP ▪️ 3.59 ERA ▪️ 116 K ▪️ 42 BB ▪️ 1.161 WHIP ▪️ 1.5 WAR
Somehow still, in completing his third season as a pro, Gordon is still vastly underrated. All he has done is put up a career 2.80 ERA while taking on a significant workload each season. Sure, there’s no overpowering fastball there, but Gordon’s cup of coffee at Double-A (where he vastly improved his ERA, 2.11 over four starts) indicates that he may evade the wall that softer tossers hit once they are in the upper minors.
Landon Hodge
Catcher
Age 19
2025 high level Crespi Carmelite H.S. (Encino, Calif.)
Scouting grades (40-80 scale) Hit 45 ▪️ Power 40 ▪️ Run 50 ▪️ Arm 55 ▪️ Field 50 ▪️ Overall 40
This teammate of White Sox first-rounder (and SSS Top Prospect Vote No. 7 player) Billy Carlson made history simply by being drafted (fourth round, No. 107 overall). The very first pick of Day 2 of the draft was a somewhat curious one, given MLB’s ranking as the 164th-best talent available in the draft and the presence of much more enticing talents (as high as MLB’s No. 35 prospect) passed over on Day 1. Hodge has a killer arm (another characteristic he shares with Carlson) and has a solid hit tool that’s more average than power.
Kyle Lodise
Shortstop
Age 22
2025 high level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level -1.0 years
Overall 2025 stats 28 games ▪️ 4 HR ▪️ 10 RBI ▪️ .185/.319/.370 ▪️ 7-of-8 (87.5%) SB ▪️ 15 BB ▪️ 21 K ▪️ .954 FLD%▪️ 0.4 WAR
Last summer’s third-rounder got right to work after the draft, reporting to High-A and adding another third to what was already the longest (55 games) season of his career. While that slash is rough, at least nearly a fourth (four of 17) of the shortstop’s hits left the yard. Perhaps against easier competition (or, maybe not), Lodise ran out a .329/.429/.667 slash in his last college season for Georgia Tech, with similar power, baserunning and bat discipline numbers.
Javier Mogollón
Shortstop
Age 20
2025 high level Kannapolis (Low-A)
Age relative to high level -1.4 years
Overall 2025 stats 51 games ▪️ 5 HR ▪️ 19 RBI ▪️ .220/.347/.387 ▪️ 15-of-21 (71.4%) SB ▪️ 30 BB ▪️ 56 K ▪️ .971 FLD%▪️ 1.0 WAR
An ascending star just one year ago, we have to tap the breaks a bit on Mogollón after a lackluster first full season of minors ball. While still young for his level and managing to keep his head above water in a new league every season of his career, Mogollón’s undeniable hitting in Rookie ball fell off significantly with the Cannon Ballers. However, how much of that was due to battling injury is undetermined, as Mogollón was shelved for what turned out to be the season on July 2.
Rikuu Nishida
Right Fielder
Age 24
2025 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 28
2025 high level Birmingham (AA)
Age relative to high level +0.3 years
Overall 2025 stats 115 games ▪️ 0 HR ▪️ 31 RBI ▪️ .273/.403/.308 ▪️ 40-of-52 (76.9%) SB ▪️ 75 BB ▪️ 69 K ▪️ .986 FLD%▪️ 2.6 WAR
What other testament to Nishida’s flexibility can there be but to say in three years in our Top 100, his primary position has changed from left field to second base to right field. You won’t find a stranger profile in the White Sox system, as Nishida’s profile is one of extreme on-base ability and baserunning peskiness, at the expense of any power whatsoever. He was a seeming shoo-in for Charlotte at some point last summer, but stalled in Double-A.
Jedixson Paez
Right-Handed Starting Pitcher
Age 22
2025 high level Greenville (Red Sox High-A)
Age relative to high level -2.2 years
Overall 2025 stats o-3 ▪️ 7 starts ▪️ 19 1/3 IP ▪️ 2.79.ERA ▪️ 23 K ▪️ 3 BB ▪️ 1.086 WHIP ▪️ 0.4 WAR
Paez is among the newest members of the White Sox, selected with the No. 2 pick in last week’s Rule 5 draft. The Red Sox product has crushed opponents since his debut in the DSL in 2021. In fact, the only hitch in a series of relatively aggressive Boston promotions came last year, when a calf injury took Paez out of action from the end of April to mid-August and limited him to just seven starts.
Past South Side Sox Prospect votes
- Here is how 2018 wrangled out — all 42 picks. Also, here is an archive of every article in the 2018 series.
- Here is how 2019 came together, all 50 picks, and the archive as well.
- Now 2020, with the archive.
- Here is the 2021 wrap-up of just 35 picks due to flagging participation, along with the full archive.
- Here is the 2022 link to the 27-pick wrap, along with the full archive.
- Round 24 of voting was the last of 2023 (we did not do an actual wrap for the voting, but Jordan Sprinkle ended up being our final pick), and the full archive.
- In 2024 Abraham Núñez was our 34th pick to end the series, and here is the wrap-up post and full archive of each profile.
- And last year, we did 31 picks, ending with Eric Adler. Here is the wrap and full stream, of every article.
