Hagen Smith throws playoff gem: How close are White Sox’ top prospects to making major league impact?

If the Hagen Smith who threw five no-hit innings in a Double-A playoff game is the Hagen Smith that White Sox fans get to see at the major league level one day, then maybe there’s reason to be a little more optimistic about the team’s pitching future than it’s seemed this summer.

Smith, the lefty the team took with the No. 5 pick in the 2024 draft, contributed to a drop in excitement surrounding the Sox’ collection of young arms, an early-season forearm injury and season-long battle with throwing pitches in the strike zone making for a less-than-ideal first full year as a pro.

But he rose to the occasion Thursday, helping Birmingham to a postseason victory with 10 strikeouts over five scoreless frames.

“To see Hagen go out and pitch the way he did, especially in a playoff atmosphere,” Sox pitching czar Brian Bannister said Friday, “was really, really good.”

Those are the kinds of results the Sox expected when they made Smith a cornerstone of their rebuilding project, alongside fellow lefty Noah Schultz and the more recently acquired Braden Montgomery, the outfielder picked seven spots below Smith and part of the return package in last winter’s Garrett Crochet trade.

With a position-player core emerging at the major league level, those are the minor leaguers headlining the Sox’ planned bright future.

A future that could be here before you know it.

“Truthfully, I was hoping that [Smith and Schultz] would be ready to contribute right out of the gate next year,” general manager Chris Getz said Wednesday. “That might not be the case, based on how their seasons played out. But it doesn’t change our assessment and the ceiling of the player.

“I think we’re going to look up and see those guys helping our major league club fairly soon.”

Obviously, there’s plenty of development that still needs to occur. If 2025 was anything for two pitchers who began the year among the highest rated prospects in the sport, it was a reminder that player development doesn’t always go as expected.

Bannister attributed Schultz’s poor numbers following a promotion to Triple-A Charlotte – a 9.37 ERA in five starts – to the knee tendinitis that ended the 6-foot-10 left-hander’s season early and wiped out a planned trip to the Arizona Fall League. That, combined with Smith’s early health issue and yearlong walks issue, dampened the enthusiasm generated by those initial eye-popping scouting reports.

Fast forward to September, and Montgomery is the one atop the organizational rankings. His season, too, was halted by injury – in his case, a foot fracture – though unlike Schultz, he’s expected to join Smith in the Fall League.

The continued play for both could be a sign of things to come: having all eyes on them in Arizona. It’s unknown what the Sox have in store for them when it comes to spring training, but it figures they’ll be centers of attention – whether they’re competing for Opening Day jobs or not – at Camelback Ranch.

Montgomery’s just 22 years old and 121 games into his professional career. But is it too early to suggest he could be making his big league debut next summer?

“I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility,” Getz said. “He carried an .800 OPS in his first full season.

“He’s another guy we know is going to have a really good offseason. We’ll see how it looks come spring training next year. I can see him contributing at some point next year.”

Smith and Schultz figure to contribute first, if not as soon as Getz hoped.

Still, Sox brass saw progress this season, with Bannister voicing the sort of pitching optimism that was omnipresent in March.

“We’re going to have a really nice collection of arms with high upside and really go out and continue to develop them at the major league level,” he said, “and really just build up a robust, deep staff.”