(670 The Score) The hope for the White Sox to potentially turn around their misery in the coming years lies primarily in the promise of their young pitchers.
Most notably, it lies in the futures of 21-year-old left-hander Noah Schultz and 21-year-old left-hander Hagen Smith. Schultz was a first-round pick of the White Sox in 2022 and posted a 2.24 ERA in 88 1/3 innings split between high Class-A and Double-A in 2024. He struck out 115 batters and walked just 24.
Schultz is the White Sox’s top-ranked prospect, and Smith checks in at No. 3 in their system. Schultz ranks No. 16 in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, while Smith is ranked 30th.
“We’ve got two of the top left-handed starters in minor league baseball,” general manager Chris Getz said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday morning.
“Noah had 60 or so innings at Double-A. We’re talking about a cold-climate high school signee. He didn’t have a lot of innings under his belt, so early on, you’ve got to get him through full seasons appropriately as he fills out his frame. But man, he’s got a chance to be really special. But we’re not too far off just because we’ve got close to 90 innings, we’re at the 90-inning threshold. We’re starting to tap into being able to make major league starts. He’s got the stuff. He throws strikes. He’s savvy on the mound. I won’t say he’s knocking on the door (of an MLB call-up), but he’s not that far off.”
The White Sox selected Smith at No. 5 overall in the first round of the MLB Draft in 2024 after his dominant season at Arkansas in which he posted a 2.04 ERA and struck out 161 batters in 84 innings. He then made three appearances at high Class-A in the White Sox’s system later in the summer.
“You look at what Paul Skenes did – and I don’t want to put (Smith) in that category necessarily, because you know what Skenes was able to accomplish last year – but some of these top college arms pitching in the SEC, they can move quickly as well,” Getz said. “So I don’t think we’re that far off of watching Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith at the front of a rotation for the White Sox. I think it’s in the very near future.”