by Alex Lloyd Gross
It’s All Star Weekend in Philadelphia and that means just about everything dealing with baseball is happening. Including the Major League Baseball Draft. This event was held at the Grand Hall and was a ticketed event.
Some draft highlights include The Chicago White Sox selected shortstop Roch Cholowsky out of the University of California, Los Angeles with the first overall pick in the Draft. Cholowsky is the 14th shortstop taken with the first overall pick in the Draft, marking the second straight year a shortstop has been selected first overall, following the Washington Nationals’ selection of Eli Willits last July. The 21-year-old joined Danny Goodwin (1971) and Hall of Famer Harold Baines (1977) as the only number one overall picks in White Sox history. Cholowsky is the son of Dan Cholowsky, who was the 39th overall pick in the 1991 Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and played eight seasons in the Minors for the Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies, and is now a scout for the Toronto Blue Jays. According to Elias, they are the 11th father/son pairing to be selected in the first round of the June or July editions of the Draft, joining Tom (1966) and Ben Grieve (1994); John (1967) and John Mayberry Jr. (2005); Jeff (1969) and Sean Burroughs (1998); Steve (1973) and Nick Swisher (2002); Lance (1974) and Dave Parrish (2000); Rod (1978) and Brad Boxberger (2009); Delino (1987) and Delino DeShields (2010); Phil (1992) and Tyler Nevin (2015); Bobby (1985) and Bobby Witt Jr. (2019); and Steve (1993) and Tyler Soderstrom (2020).
With the fifth and sixth-ever Prospect Promotion Incentive Selection, the Atlanta Braves selected Carson Beck out of Indiana State University and the Houston Astros selected Jack Radel out of the University of Notre Dame. The PPI Selection was awarded to Atlanta for the promotion of catcher Drake Baldwin in 2025 who went on to win NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year, and it was awarded to Houston for the promotion of starting pitcher Hunter Brown, who finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2025, prior to his qualification for arbitration.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Scenes from the MLB Daft
Georgia Tech University teammates Vahn Lackey (3rd overall, MIN) and Drew Burress (8th overall, ATH) were the first pair of teammates to be selected in this year’s Draft. It marks the fourth consecutive year in which a set of teammates were selected within the top-10 of the Draft, joining Corona High School (CA) teammates Seth Hernandez (8th) and Billy Carlson (10th) in 2025; Wake Forest University teammates Chase Burns (2nd), Nick Kurtz (4th) and Seaver King (10th) in 2024; and Louisiana State University teammates Paul Skenes (1st) and Dylan Crews (2nd) in 2023. Other teammates to be selected within today’s first 40 picks included UCLA alumni Cholowsky (1st, CWS) and Logan Reddemann (38th, COL); University of Arkansas teammates Justin Lebron (18th, CIN), Carson Wiggins (27th, NYM) and Hunter Dietz (35th, NYY); and University of Mississippi pitchers Cade Townsend (23rd, CHC) and Taylor Rabe (30th, KC).
Elsewhere in the building, people could partake in the All Star Village, which is a fan fest to allow companies that sponsor MLB to set up booths for interactive games. There were multiple batting exhibits, auctions, and a kids zone where kids can steal home, There were also lines. Just about everything to be done had a line where the wait was at least one hour. The beer stand line was about a two hour wait.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Yes, he is real and alive, spotted at All Star Village.
Ford had a neat exhibition, where custom bats and balls were given out free. To create it took an hour. Attendees would do something else, then come back when they got a text message that their project was done.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo Delaware Valley News.com Steve Carlton signs autographs.
The village will run until the All Star Game on July 14,and on those days lines are expected to be much shorter. If you have a Capitol One credit card, some lines have VIP access for that. Fans can get the MLB App and register for activities at the village. Such as autographs from Phillies legends like Steve Carlton, Larry Bowa, Jaimie Moyer, just to name a few.