After accounting for Shirley’s apparent significant influence on the selection process and her admission to the team in the first round of “playing the financial game,” the White Sox selected another southpaw
No matter how much of an influence the money aspect made, the White Sox were left without any sort of comfort. Smith had an incredible 2024 season that garnered him SEC pitcher of the year honors, and he was regarded as the No. 5 prospect by MLB.com going into the draft. In 84 innings pitched, he struck out 161 batters, including 17 in one inning against a perennially strong Oregon State team that included Travis Bazzana, the number one pick, who was responsible for three of those strikeouts.
“It’s the best collegiate pitcher performance I’ve ever witnessed.” Ever,” exclaimed Shirley, who was present. “I’ve done this for a very long time. I’ve never seen a college pitcher take any lineup for Oregon State the way he did. On the main platform.
There were seventeen punch outs. Since I’ve been scouting, I’ve never seen anything so dominant. With those kind of weapons, he can imprison you and cause you discomfort.
“I might need to take a day off when we face this guy,” legendary baseball player Jim Thome once said. This man is real, that’s part of it.
That is essentially the most positive assessment you will find, and it should inspire admirers of Smith’s potential moving forward.
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The White Sox selected Hagen Smith with the No. 5 choice in the MLB Draft, making him the newest pillar of the team’s rebuild.
Dylan Widger/USA TODAY Sports is credited.
Currently, on the South Side, of course, everything revolves around the future, since the White Sox are expected to record one of the biggest single-season loss totals in baseball history. Gaining momentum from the trades his predecessors made last summer and the Dylan Cease trade he made in March, Getz is working to acquire as much talent as he can to the minor league system. Before the conclusion of this month, a number of trades are anticipated. However, the No. 5 pick was an equally exceptional chance to add a significant piece of infrastructure, particularly in light of the fact that the White Sox can only select as high as No. 10 in the following year due to league anti-tanking regulations.
When the subsequent White Sox squad faces competition, which may never happen, Smith can be added to the team’s rotation for the future. Schultz seems to be heading in the same direction. The White Sox may have felt that a contender won’t emerge until Crochet’s free agency following the 2026 season, but he has been the focus of intense trade rumors in the run-up to the deadline. Crochet would look fantastic as the staff ace in that bunch as well.
However, there’s a rationale for the term “penciled,” as the White Sox are, as previously said, comparatively rich in pitching prospects. Prior to their dismissals last summer, Rick Hahn and Ken Williams orchestrated transactions that brought in players like Nick Nastrini, Jake Eder, and Ky Bush, who are currently among the team’s top prospects. Two more, Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte, who may be included in that group, were acquired in the Cease trade. Thorpe and Jonathan Cannon, a third-round selection in 2022, are both major league pitchers.
Stated differently, there might be fierce rivalry for those positions in the next rotation. And that is in no way a negative thing. Shirley is entitled to say what any baseball fan would: pitching depth is essential to a winning club, as it provides a safety net against injuries and can be traded for better players to improve other areas of the roster. No team can ever have too much pitching.
It’s also true that not many guys can be as simply projected into the White Sox’s lineup going forward. Apart from Colson Montgomery and Edgar Quero, two players ranked in the top 100, the minor league position player pool doesn’t seem to be quite as large as the pitching group. But whether in the major leagues or the minor leagues, the MLB Draft is not usually conducted by need. Therefore, if the White Sox believe that Smith is the best player they could have chosen at No. 5, that matters more than attempting to project what the major league team will need in three or more years.
If Smith needs that much time to get through the system, we’ll find out. Though it’s impractical to anticipate that every person will turn into Paul Skenes and go from being the number one choice in the draft to an All-Star starter in a single season, Smith is a college pitcher who is undoubtedly better than a high school pitcher and has the experts thrilled. The person who selected him concurred that he might be almost big league ready.
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