Roch Cholowsky

Roch Cholowsky entered 2026 as the consensus No. 1 overall pick, and two weekends of live competition have done nothing to challenge that status. If anything, the TCU series expanded the case. The grand slam in Game 1’s second inning — off a ranked team’s Friday starter, with the bases loaded and two outs — was a draft-night highlight before February ended. The solo shot in the fifth was redundant by then. The third homer, in Game 3’s run-rule, was punctuation on a series that UCLA had already won in spirit by Saturday afternoon.

What separates Cholowsky from the next tier of college bats isn’t the raw numbers — though 6 HR through 7 games is absurd pacing for any hitter in any league. It’s the context of the damage. His Game 1 grand slam came against TCU, which had held Arkansas and Vanderbilt to 4 runs each at the Shriners Showdown a week earlier. He wasn’t feasting on mid-major arms. He was erasing a ranked pitching staff’s competitive framework in two at-bats.

The offensive profile is two-way elite: hit tool and power, operating from a premium defensive position. Shortstops who can hit for average and power are the rarest commodity in the draft. The last college shortstop taken No. 1 overall was Royce Lewis (Minnesota) in 2017. Cholowsky’s combination of bat speed, pitch recognition, and in-game power production at the college level is tracking ahead of where Lewis was at the same point in his draft year.

Cholowsky’s calling card is the hit tool — quick hands, natural feel for the barrel, and an approach at the plate that belies his age. He doesn’t chase. He doesn’t expand. When pitchers miss over the plate, he punishes them. When they don’t, he takes his walk and moves to the next at-bat. That discipline is what makes the power numbers sustainable rather than streaky.

Defensively, he’s a legitimate shortstop — smooth actions, above-average range to both sides, and an arm that plays anywhere on the left side of the infield. The feet are clean. The throws are accurate. He’s not a shortstop-for-now who’ll slide to third base in pro ball; he’s a shortstop who can stay at shortstop.

The concern, to the extent one exists, is that UCLA’s early-season schedule hasn’t tested him against elite pitching yet. TCU’s ace Tommy LaPour was unavailable due to elbow soreness for the series. The real measuring stick comes when Cholowsky faces the SEC’s best Friday starters in regional and super regional play — or in the Cape this summer. But the early returns are consistent with the pre-draft scouting consensus: this is the best college bat in the class, and it isn’t particularly close.

Cholowsky doesn’t operate in a vacuum. UCLA is the No. 1 team in the country for a reason, and it starts with the lineup around him. Will Gasparino, hitting behind Cholowsky in the 4-hole, went 7-for-13 (.538) in the TCU series. Together, the 3-4 hitters produced 6 home runs and 16 RBI across three games. TCU’s pitching staff — which had limited two ranked teams to single-digit run totals a week earlier — couldn’t pitch around Cholowsky because Gasparino was waiting behind him. And they couldn’t pitch to him because the result was a grand slam.

That protection matters for the draft evaluation. Cholowsky will see fewer quality pitches as the season progresses and teams recognize that walking him doesn’t solve the problem. What he does with the pitches he does see — and how he handles prolonged stretches where opponents refuse to give him anything to hit — will separate the consensus from the conviction. Right now, through seven games, the consensus and the on-field data are aligned.