{"id":508809,"date":"2026-01-07T00:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/508809\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T00:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:32:22","slug":"2026-south-side-sox-top-prospect-no-67-mark-mclaughlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/508809\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 South Side Sox Top Prospect No. 67: Mark McLaughlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark McLaughlin
Right-Handed Relief Pitcher
6\u00b43\u00b4\u00b4
205 pounds
Age: 25
2023 South Side Sox Top 100 Prospect ranking<\/a> 62
2024 South Side Sox Top 1oo Prospect ranking N\/R
2025 South Side Sox Top 1oo Prospect ranking N\/R (103)
2025 High Level Birmingham (AA)
Age relative to high level -0.7 years
SSS rank among all right-handed relief pitchers in the system 13
Overall 2025 stats (High-A\/AA) 3-3 \u26be\ufe0f 8 SV \u26be\ufe0f 45 games (15 finishes) \u26be\ufe0f 62 IP \u26be\ufe0f 3.48 ERA \u26be\ufe0f 1.161 WHIP \u26be\ufe0f 67 K \u26be\ufe0f 21 BB \u26be\ufe0f 0.8 WAR<\/p>\n

At No. 221 in the 2022 MLB draft<\/a>, the White Sox<\/a> picked University of Tennessee righty reliever Mark McLaughlin. If he makes the majors with the big club, he\u2019ll be perfect for those promotional valentines the White Sox like to roll out: McLaughlin is a Valentine\u2019s Day baby.<\/p>\n

Coming into the system, McLaughlin immediately reminded of a pitcher like Zack Burdi, perhaps not in the velo category but as a high-profile and high-leverage reliever who could make fast moves through the system.<\/p>\n

Those fast moves did not happen, however, as McLaughlin followed his one-game toe-dip with the ACL White Sox after signing (striking out one in his lone inning) with a positively catastrophic first full season in the pros: 11.19 ERA, 2.467 WHIP, and the strike zone significantly abandoning him (1.14 K\/BB). Maybe the loss of control could have been mitigated, if not for the hard contact hitters enjoyed as well.<\/p>\n

Certainly being a seventh-rounder, and one with a legit SEC pedigree, saved McLaughlin from possible quick release out of the system. And Chicago\u2019s faith has won out, as in 2024 McLaughlin returned to the scene of his crimes in Low-A and conquered them with a 3.92 ERA over 42 games. And in 2025 McLaughlin finally caught up to his appropriate age level, splitting time almost evenly between High-A and Double-A, and mostly killing it. The righty ran out of gas by season\u2019s end (9.00 ERA in Birmingham in September), but up until his final appearance of August McLaughlin was running out a 2.68 ERA.<\/p>\n

We tabbed McLaughlin a fast mover years ago, and aside from a complete re-set of a 2023 summer he\u2019s proven worthy. At this point, starting in Charlotte seems likely and status as a possible call-up to the South Side is on the table for McLaughlin in 2026.<\/p>\n

2026 Top 100 Prospects no longer in the system
15. Peyton Pallette, RHRP (lost to Cleveland in the Rule 5 draft)
43. Ronny Hernandez, C (traded to Boston on Nov. 18, 2025)
51. Drew Dalquist, RHRP (declared free agency)
66. Andre Lipcius, 1B (declared free agency)
84. Caleb Freeman, RHRP (declared free agency)
90. DJ Gladney, RF (declared free agency)
98. Luis Pineda, C (declared free agency)<\/p>\n

Estimated prospect ratings for players added this offseason but too late for our Top 100
23. Alexander Alberto, RHRP (Rule 5 pick from Tampa Bay)
40. Tristan Peters, OF (trade from Tampa Bay)
44. Tim Elko, 1B (re-signed as MiLB free agent)
45. Jackson Kelley, RHRP (MiLB Rule 5 pick from Texas)
87. Tanner Murray, INF (trade from Tampa Bay)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark McLaughlinRight-Handed Relief Pitcher6\u00b43\u00b4\u00b4205 poundsAge: 252023 South Side Sox Top 100 Prospect ranking 622024 South Side Sox Top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[59257,5,138,49,38554,59258,2561,67290,4,396,38555,2562],"class_list":["post-508809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-2026-white-sox-top-100-prospects","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicago-white-sox-prospects-minor-leagues","tag-chicago-white-sox-top-100-prospects","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-mark-mclaughlin","tag-mlb","tag-white-sox","tag-white-sox-minors","tag-whitesox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115851005357265844","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}