CHICAGO (AP) — Roch Cholowsky has agreed to a contract with the Chicago White Sox that includes a record-breaking $10.35 million signing bonus after he was the No. 1 overall pick in last weekend's amateur draft.
A person familiar with the contract confirmed the agreement to the AP on Tuesday because it hadn't been announced by the team.
Click to Gallery
FILE - UCLA's Roch Cholowsky reacts after hitting a home run during an NCAA baseball game against Texas Christian, Feb. 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, File)
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky goes No. 1 overall to the Chicago White Sox during the 2026 MLB Draft shown on the scoreboard before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky goes No. 1 overall to the Chicago White Sox during the 2026 MLB Draft shown on the scoreboard before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)
Chicago White Sox's Roch Cholowsky, first round of the 2026 MLB draft (No. 1 overall), throws a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Athletics and the White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, July 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The slot value for the top pick this year was $11,350,600. Cholowsky's bonus tops the previous mark of $9.25 million for the amateur draft that belonged to Reds pitcher Chase Burns and Rockies prospect Charlie Condon, two of the top three selections in 2024.
Cholowsky, a 6-foot-2 shortstop who turned 21 in April, hit .320 with 21 homers, 60 RBIs and a 1.088 OPS in 60 games this season for UCLA. He is the first No. 1 overall pick for the White Sox since they drafted outfielder Harold Baines in 1977.
“At the end of the day, we were most comfortable with Roch Cholowsky with our first pick, regardless of what the signing bonus was going to be,” general manager Chris Getz said Saturday.
Cholowsky played for the Bruins for three seasons, batting .329 with 52 homers, 167 RBIs and a 1.072 OPS in 178 games. He ranks among the school's career leaders in homers, runs scored, on-base percentage and RBIs.
“You look at what he has done throughout his baseball career, both at UCLA, but prior to that,” Getz said. “We had interest in him in high school and then to be able to watch his college career unfold and see what he accomplished and the impact that he had on his teammates and that program and now to envision that type of influence within this organization is something that attracted us to select him at No. 1.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - UCLA's Roch Cholowsky reacts after hitting a home run during an NCAA baseball game against Texas Christian, Feb. 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong, File)
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky goes No. 1 overall to the Chicago White Sox during the 2026 MLB Draft shown on the scoreboard before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)
UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky goes No. 1 overall to the Chicago White Sox during the 2026 MLB Draft shown on the scoreboard before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Athletics Saturday, July 11, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)
Chicago White Sox's Roch Cholowsky, first round of the 2026 MLB draft (No. 1 overall), throws a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Athletics and the White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, July 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — Trump administration officials told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.
The policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.
In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.
The suspension of vehicle stops allows room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations. Matthew Felling, a spokesperson for Maine Sen. Angus King, said the senator’s office was also told by the Department of Homeland Security that ICE was suspending stops.
Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national.
DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the vehicle attempted to flee and the officer fired.
That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.
DHS, which oversees ICE, didn’t respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.
In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”
Petro, who has openly quarreled with U.S. President Donald Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”
The shooting also sparked outrage in Maine, where hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday outside an ICE detention center in Scarborough, just up the coast between Biddeford and Portland.
“These people are killers and they must leave our state now,” organizer Todd Chretien told the crowd, including some who held signs reading "Stop the murder” and “End this terror.”
Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”
Durán Guerrero's shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since Trump began his immigration crackdown.
Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car’s windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when they fired, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop, and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.
“We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.
Maine's attorney general’s office, which noted that it’s working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.
The state's other senator, Republican Susan Collins, said Mullin told her that DHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.
Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November sought Tuesday to connect her with the public's unease over ICE's methods. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.
According to neighbors and public records, Guerrero lived in an apartment about 150 feet (46 meters) from where his car came to a rest outside an apartment building across the street from a pawnshop and laundromat.
Video from a nearby business' security camera obtained by the AP shows a white car slowly approaching an intersection before making several circles. A law enforcement SUV blocks its path and two officers open the driver’s door and drag out a limp body.
It isn't clear from the video when the shots were fired.
Daniel Boucher said he heard a “pop, pop, pop” and ran to the intersection.
“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”
Boucher said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero walked close to him.
“He looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don’t remember his exact words.”
Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S.
Neighbors say Durán Guerrero was a friendly and familiar face even though they rarely chatted because he didn’t appear to speak English.
Sadie Dilboy and Cory Poulin, who owns the laundromat near the intersection, said they saw Durán Guerrero all the time.
“Everyone knows him,” said Dilboy, who remembered that he often came to their store with his daughter and gave her quarters to buy candy.
Claudia Morton, who often waved to Durán Guerrero, was distraught. “The whole world should be crying,” she said.
Brook reported from New Orleans and Sisak from New York. Associated Press reporters Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
A man yells at a woman working security near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Scarborough, Maine, one day after the shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Protesters gather near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Scarborough, Maine, one day after the shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) CORRECTION: Corrects ID to Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero NOT Joan Sebastian Guerrero
A man yells at a woman working security near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Scarborough, Maine, one day after the shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Protesters gather near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Scarborough, Maine, one day after the shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Protesters gather near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Scarborough, Maine, one day after the shooting of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Dr. Nirav Shah, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to reporters a day after a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tuesday, July 14, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Attendees stand during a vigil after a man was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday, July 13, 2026, in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A demonstrator fights back tears at an anti-ICE rally after a man was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday, July 13, 2026, in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Blood is seen on the pavement near the scene of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Monday, July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A man pauses to view a makeshift memorial to the victim of a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tuesday, July 14, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
