{"id":582763,"date":"2026-02-20T11:52:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/582763\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:52:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:52:31","slug":"2026-south-side-sox-top-prospect-no-48-nick-mclain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/582763\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 South Side Sox Top Prospect No. 48: Nick McLain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick McLain
Center Fielder
5\u00b410\u00b4\u00b4
190 pounds
Age: 23
2025 South Side Sox Top Prospect Ranking<\/a> 33
2025 High Level Kannapolis (Low-A)
Age relative to high level +1.6 years
SSS rank among all center fielders in the system 4
Overall 2025 stats 13 games \u26be\ufe0f 0 HR \u26be\ufe0f 9 RBI \u26be\ufe0f .261\/.414\/.304 \u26be\ufe0f 11 BB \u26be\ufe0f 77 K \u26be\ufe0f 4-of-4 (100.0%) SB \u26be\ufe0f 1.000 FLD %\u26be\ufe0f 0.5 WAR<\/p>\n

In the third round of the 2024 draft, the White Sox<\/a> selected outfielder Nick McLain from Arizona State University. The 22-year-old switch-hitter was coming off back-to-back strong seasons in the Pac-12, and is the younger brother of Cincinnati Reds<\/a> standout Matt McLain.<\/p>\n

In 2023, McLain missed the first half of the season with a left hamate injury before returning to have a very strong second half. The then-redshirt freshman slashed .298\/.391\/.649 with eight homers and a 138 wRC+ over 110 PA. In 2024, he missed the month of February with another hamate injury, this time affecting his right hand. However, like in 2023, he returned and put-up huge numbers, slashing .332\/.448\/.652 with a 153 wRC+ and a 3.6 WAR. With 4.2 Defensive Runs Saved, McLain was also a solid defender manning right field for the Sun Devils.<\/p>\n

In general, McLain\u2019s profile is one that doesn\u2019t have an elite, carrying tool; rather, almost everything is above-average. In 2024, he walked more than he struck out (14.3% vs. 11.7%), hit for power (.321 ISO), avoided hitting ground balls (34%), got his pull-side batted balls in the air (66%), and only whiffed on 18% of his swings. He also showcased 340 plate appearances of better than 1.000 OPS-production in a Power-5 conference through his college career, and is a true switch-hitter after hitting .339 with a 1.086 OPS vs right-handers and .317 with a 1.125 OPS vs southpaws \u2014 these are the clear strengths.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, none of the enticing numbers and traits that made McLain a slam-dunk high draft pick have been on display in the two years since he\u2019s joined the White Sox, as he sat out play in 2024 after the draft and was limited by a back injury to just 13 games in 2025 \u2014 and none after April.<\/p>\n

McLain\u2019s injury was obviously grave, as he not only missed the final five months of his first pro season, but even when sent to the ACL for rehab in May was unable to muster a single game.<\/p>\n

This far in, McLain is still basically starting his career over. The good news is that, as a seasoned collegian and third round talent, he could make up ground in the system fast. The bad news? He might not get back on the field long enough to flash any upward mobility. Expect a second try at Kannapolis 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)
31. Gage Ziehl, RHSP (traded to Boston on Feb. 1, 2026)
43. Ronny Hernandez, C (traded to Boston on Nov. 18, 2025)
51. Drew Dalquist, RHRP (declared free agency, signed Triple-A deal with San Diego Padres)
66. Andre Lipcius, 1B (declared free agency)
84. Caleb Freeman, RHRP (declared free agency)
90. DJ Gladney, RF (declared free agency, signed Double-A deal with New York Yankees)
98. Luis Pineda, C (declared free agency)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick McLainCenter Fielder5\u00b410\u00b4\u00b4190 poundsAge: 232025 South Side Sox Top Prospect Ranking 332025 High Level Kannapolis (Low-A)Age relative to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[59257,5,138,49,38554,59258,2561,4,22134,396,38555,2562],"class_list":["post-582763","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-mlb","tag-nick-mclain","tag-white-sox","tag-white-sox-minors","tag-whitesox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116102820576576406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582763","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=582763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}