White Sox GM: Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith Could Reach MLB ‘In The Very Near Future’

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Image credit: (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

The White Sox are in major rebuilding mode after a 121-loss season in 2024, but with five preseason Top 100 Prospects their trajectory could change in the near future—especially on the mound.

Noah Schultz (No. 10 overall) and Hagen Smith (No. 40) are among those heralded prospects. They are two of baseball’s three best lefthanded pitching prospects entering 2025, with only Marlins lefthander Thomas White ranked in between on the Top 100. And according to White Sox general manager Chris Getz, Schultz and Smith could reach the big leagues sooner rather than later.

“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,” Getz said on 670 The Score on Friday morning. “I think it’s in the very near future.”

It isn’t necessarily a far-fetched idea, even despite both being recent draft picks with a short track record in pro ball. Recent history shows teams are willing to push their pitching prospects quicker. Paul Skenes pitched just 34 innings in the minors before his Pirates debut. The Reds drafted Rhett Lowder seventh overall in 2023 and he reached Cincinnati the following season after tossing just 108.2 minor league innings. And the White Sox famously fast-tracked Garrett Crochet, the 11th pick in 2020 to the big league bullpen.

Of course, all three had an extensive track record of college performance. Schultz, the No. 26 pick in 2022 out of high school in Illinois, did not, and the White Sox so far have deployed him cautiously. He missed time with a left forearm strain and separate shoulder impingement in 2023. Schultz never pitched past the fourth inning in a start in 2024. But he has performed loudly when healthy, posting a combined 2.24 ERA between High-A and Double-A with 115 strikeouts to just 22 walks in 88.1 innings last season.

“I don’t think he’s knocking on the door,” Getz said. “But he’s not that far off.”

Smith’s track record more similarly mirrors the college arms who have moved quickly. He has just 7.2 professional innings with High-A Winston-Salem on his ledger, but he was one of the most accomplished pitchers in the 2024 draft class. He departed Arkansas as the program’s career strikeout leader (360) before Chicago drafted him fifth overall.

“You look at what Paul Skenes did. I don’t want to put him in that category necessarily because of 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.

The White Sox have a history of developing lefthanded talents–notably Mark Buehrle, four-time all-star Chris Sale and Crochet, who netted them four prospects in a major trade this winter with Boston and helped bolster Chicago’s farm system for the future.

Schultz and Smith will get their first taste of the big league environment this spring. The White Sox announced both will receive non-roster invites to MLB spring training, perhaps offering a glimpse into what could soon be the future of the White Sox rotation.

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