CHICAGO ¨C Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith won¡¯t be prominent big league performers for the White Sox during the 2025 season.

There¡¯s a chance neither young hurler reaches the Majors in ¡¯25, and if they do, it would probably be later in the campaign. But the No. 1 and No. 2 left-handed pitching prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, are integral cogs for this latest White Sox rebuild.

Schultz and Smith are also two of the six White Sox players in MLB Pipeline¡¯s new 2025 Top 100, released on Friday, leaving them No. 1 overall with 364 prospect points and trailing only the Cubs and Mariners (seven) in Top 100 representation. Smith, the team¡¯s top pick in the ¡¯24 Draft at No. 5 overall, checks in at No. 34 in the Top 100, but Schultz is the leader among that White Sox group at No. 16.

¡°When it comes to stuff, he's very close,¡± said Sergio Santos, the new Triple-A Charlotte manager who worked with Schultz for Southern League champion Double-A Birmingham in ¡¯24. ¡°He's just one of those players that's so special, it just doesn't make sense to rush him.¡±

Over 23 starts between Birmingham and High-A Winston Salem, Schultz posted a 2.24 ERA in 88 1/3 innings and had an airtight 1.48 ERA in 61 innings for the Barons. Schultz struck out 115 and walked 24 in total, allowing three home runs among his 63 hits.

The White Sox started Schultz once per week, on Saturdays, and held him to a strict innings limit and pitch count regardless of the game situation. He¡¯ll be moving into more of a normal five-day starter¡¯s routine this season, as will Smith.

¡°Aptitude off the charts, ability off the charts,¡± said John Ely, the ¡¯24 Birmingham pitching coach who worked with Schultz. ¡°He¡¯s only getting better. That kid will be a 1 or a 2 in a Major League rotation sooner than later. He¡¯s very, very good.¡±

¡°I knew he hated the constraints that we had on him,¡± said a smiling Santos. ¡°He gave me the dirtiest look every time I took him out in the fourth inning, but he understood there's a longer plan and a bigger plan. That's what me and John Ely continued to harp on with him. The goal at the end of the day is not for you to be this Double-A Birmingham Baron pitcher. But in a year and a half, two years from now, you can be the frontline starter for the Chicago White Sox. That is far more important than last season."

Catcher Kyle Teel at No. 32 and outfielder Braden Montgomery at No. 55 join the White Sox Top 100 crew in the same season they joined the White Sox via the four-player return from Boston in the Garrett Crochet trade. Catcher Edgar Quero, who was part of the White Sox taxi squad for the last week of the ¡¯24 season, rounds out the group at No. 66, with shortstop Colson Montgomery also part of this elite list at No. 39.

Colson Montgomery was at one time the No. 1 prospect for the White Sox, a ranking now held by Schultz, but he struggled with a .214 average and a .710 OPS during his first full season in Charlotte. He hit 18 home runs with 21 doubles, while drawing 69 walks.

Those struggles changed for Montgomery over his final 99 at-bats, in which he slashed .263/.357/.465. He carried that success and adjusted mindset into a brief Arizona Fall League stint, where he played eight games at third base, but the 22-year-old has a chance to leave upcoming Spring Training as the White Sox shortstop.

¡°Being a competitor, you want to be the best. I don¡¯t want to fail. I don¡¯t want to lose. I don¡¯t want to do anything bad,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°Like I¡¯ve said before, if you never failed, then how can you know what you need to get better on or improve on?

¡°Definitely the season was not a failure or a disappointment at all, just because of all the things I¡¯ve learned about myself and about how I am as a baseball player. I definitely learned not to take things for granted and that being 100 percent ready and committed to baseball, this is my life, and just being the best I can be as a person and as a baseball player is what I want to be. I just want to be the best for myself and for the club.¡±