Longer outings in store for top prospect

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin's White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The 2025 goal for Noah Schultz -- baseball's top-ranked left-handed pitching prospect and No. 16 overall per MLB Pipeline -- is to get him more chances for victory.

OK, there¡¯s actually no concern on the White Sox part about how many wins Schultz garners on the Minor League side. Pitchers¡¯ individual wins don¡¯t have near the perceived value they once did.

But with Schultz moving from a once-per-week starting assignment -- capped at four innings and 65 pitches each time he took the mound in 2024 -- to regular turns in a five-man rotation without limitations, the opportunities to qualify for the win certainly will be more prevalent.

¡°He might get a W next to his name,¡± smiling White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski said about Schultz. ¡°He¡¯ll get opportunities to get some wins. He¡¯ll handle his business, and he¡¯ll be fine.¡±

Schultz finished 0-3 with Double-A Birmingham last season and 0-4 overall when factoring in his seven starts with High-A Winston-Salem. But again, that¡¯s not the point of this story. Schultz struck out 115 and walked 24 with a 2.24 ERA over 88 1/3 innings during the regular season, adding a 3 1/3-inning playoff start for Birmingham.

An organizational target for Schultz is 110 innings for 2025, with a look to ¡¯26 as part of the White Sox rotation. That goal assumes everything goes well for the young southpaw, on the field and health-wise.

¡°For a 21-year-old kid, he¡¯s very mature. He knows himself quite well,¡± said Zaleski. ¡°You just don¡¯t see that out of a young kid.

¡°I know he¡¯s 21, and he¡¯s been in the organization for a bit. But at 18, 19, when he first came in, it was almost like he didn¡¯t have an identity or kind of was a little lost. He took a big step the last two years with that. It was awesome to see.¡±

Schultz makes his Cactus League debut Wednesday at Camelback Ranch against the Padres, working in relief following starter Sean Burke. Hagen Smith, MLB's No. 2 left-handed prospect and No. 34 overall, will take the mound after Schultz.

It¡¯s an exciting moment for the White Sox and for Zaleski, who is one of the many individuals working with the young pitchers to reach their big league potential. It¡¯s one of many big moments hoped for by the organization, with a rotation anchored by Schultz, Smith, Grant Taylor and Jonathan Cannon not too far out of the picture.

¡°Guys we¡¯ve had who ran through the system who are starting up there now, it¡¯s nice,¡± Zaleski said. ¡°They can talk with those guys and share a little light on what it¡¯s like to go from the Minor Leagues to the big leagues and changes they¡¯ve made up there or had to adjust.¡±

For those who have doubts about Schultz and/or Smith making the jump from that 110 total in 2025 to 130-135 innings in ¡¯26, check out the plan employed for Garrett Crochet in ¡¯24. It¡¯s a blueprint for handling elite hurlers entering with lower workloads, as Crochet went from 73 combined innings over his big league career to one of the best starters in the game while throwing 146 innings last season.

¡°They have a lot of pieces to play with when it comes to the workload aspect,¡± Zaleski said. ¡°It¡¯s just getting him to that 110 healthy and being an option for us.

¡°You always have to keep building, but it¡¯s nice to see what could possibly be in the next couple of years. It¡¯s always encouraging to see.¡±

Zaleski has talked with Schultz and Smith about the club¡¯s plans. Even with Smith¡¯s three years of college experience, the White Sox will look for ways to help with their development.

¡°With college, you are still going once per week,¡± Zaleski said. ¡°It¡¯s not the six-day rotation that¡¯s going to affect you. It¡¯s that Tuesday/Sunday. When that hits, monitoring that sideline workload, whether it be cut down the intensity or pitch count of that sideline, just to be ready for that turnaround on five days.¡±