The Chicago White Sox have a sound development plan for their top prospect

There is no need to be nervous anymore about Chicago White Sox top prospect Noah Schultz, as he is back to dominating on the mound.

Schultz is the No. 1 prospect in the White Sox organization and the No. 13 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline. He is also the highest rated left-handed pitcher.

Schultz has allowed just three runs over his past four games at Double-A Birmingham. During that dominant stretch for the Barons, he had two shutout performances while allowing just one hit in both of those outings. Schultz still needs to work on his control and cut down on the walks. He issued 13 free passes during those four starts.

However, Schultz is back to overwhelming hitters. He has 19 strikeouts over his past 20.2 innings.

The White Sox feel as if he has nothing left to prove in Birmingham, so he is getting a promotion to Triple-A Charlotte.

Some people may question moving Schultz up another level given that the team has had a track record of promoting their top pitching prospects from Double-A to the majors. The White Sox did this with Drew Thorpe last season and Grant Taylor as recently as last week. But I am not one of those people questioning this decision.

The White Sox have a sound development plan in place for Noah Schultz.

White Sox development plan

While it is hard to get used to the White Sox actually being competent at developing talent, that has only been an issue for the organization when it comes to young hitters. The White Sox have never had a problem developing pitchers.

Garrett Crochet was a huge success for the club, even though they traded him this past offseason and didn't want to give him a massive extension. The current starting rotation also features Davis Martin, drafted in the 14th round by the White Sox, and Sean Burke, selected in the third round by the Sox.

Once Jonathan Cannon returns from the 15-day IL, the team will have another draft pick featured in the starting rotation.

These are all success stories and pitchers that the White Sox scouted, drafted, and developed in the minor leagues.

Burke , Martin, and Cannon all spent some time in Triple-A before getting their call to the show. It can't hurt to copy that plan with Schultz, even if Charlotte's Truist Field is a hitter friendly park.

The other reason to feel confident in Schultz reaching his potential is the team's senior advisor to pitching (fancy title for the club's pitching director), Brian Bannister. Baseball's top left-handed pitching prospect is buying in to what Bannister has planned for him.

Every time Bannister sheds light on the organization's process with young pitchers, it always makes sense and gives White Sox fans confidence. Bannister recently talked about Schultz's struggles that saw his ERA balloon to 4.50 on May 18.

Quite simply, if Bannister believes time in Triple-A is best for Schultz, then in Bannister we trust.

If Schultz reaches his superstar ceiling, his development plan should be copied by other organizations taking high school pitchers in the first round of the MLB Draft. The team went with a cautious approach last season after a flexor strain and a shoulder impingement limited him to just 27 innings in 2023 in A-ball.

The team decided to have him throw just four innings every Saturday last season. It was a brillant idea to have him work on his pitches without putting too much stress on his valuable left arm.

The plan is now to build up his arm to handle a big league workload. With moving him up to Triple-A, maybe the next step is a late-season call-up up depending on if he can find his command in Charlotte. Hopefully, this all works out into Schultz becoming the team's ace for the rest of the decade.