Chris Getz’s quote on White Sox top pitching prospects will have fans feeling confident

For top pitching prospects Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, 2025 was supposed to be the year where it all came together. Both lefties and former first round picks began the 2025 season on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects list and were looking to cement themselves as two of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. Unfortunately, both Schultz and Smith ran into hiccups along the way. This hasn’t affected Chris Getz’s confidence in his young starters, however. Speaking with Fangraphs’ David Laurila at the GM meetings, Getz spoke on Schultz and Smith: 

“For Noah, it was an inconsistent year,” Getz said. “Much of that was related to his knee - he had patellar tendonitis - and he needed to be shut down. He’s doing physical therapy and strengthening right now. I anticipate that once the knee is completely healed, once it is healthy and completely strong, we are going to get the version of Noah that made him a top prospect in our game.” 

Regarding Smith, Getz said: 

“There are areas in his delivery that need to be more consistent. He’s shown an ability to lock that in better in the Fall League, which has helped his command. It looks like Hagen has also found a changeup grip to where he’s able to locate an effective pitch. A third pitch is important to him, especially against right-handed hitters.” Later on, Getz continued, “Now it’s just a matter of him having a really productive offseason and being ready to go come spring training. We’ll see where it goes from there”. 

Schultz, when fully healthy in 2024, completely dominated between High-A and Double-A, producing an impressive 2.24 ERA across 23 starts. He struck out 115 hitters in 88.1 innings, and allowed hitters only a .198 batting average against him. He began 2025 back at the Double-A level, where he posted a solid-but-not-dominant 3.34 ERA in 12 starts before a promotion to Charlotte. His five start sample in Triple-A is where the wheels fell off. Schultz struggled to a 9.37 ERA in 16.1 innings and battled knee trouble, ending his season prematurely and canceling his scheduled trip to the Arizona Fall League. 

Smith, drafted 5th overall in 2024 by the White Sox, was seen as a fast-riser who could make a big league impact quickly. He looked sharp in three starts in High-A Winston-Salem to close out 2024, and the white sox aggressively assigned him to Birmingham to begin the season. While the 3.57 ERA in 20 outings doesn’t look too bad, Smith’s 56 walks in 75.2 innings were far too many. The White Sox did send Smith to the Arizona fall league, where he showed improved control that he’ll look to build on in 2026. 

This offseason will be crucial for Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz

Getz’s recent comments show confidence in the ability of the top White Sox lefties, and there’s reason for fans to maintain confidence too. Schultz, whose ERA spiked from 2.24 in 2024 to 4.68 in 2025, wasn’t truly healthy. Smith, who put up decent results despite obvious control issues, made a mechanical tweak and took some time adjusting to it. Both have shown flashes of the greatness the White Sox imagined when they used first round picks to acquire them. A full offseason for Schultz’s knee to heal will hopefully allow him to begin the season fully healthy at Triple-A Charlotte and leave him knocking on the door of his big league debut. A full offseason for Smith to work with White Sox coaches on his new mechanics will hopefully allow him to feel confident and trust his stuff in the upper levels of the minor leagues in 2026. 

Improvement needs to be made, but it’s far too early to give up on two of the more talented pitching prospects in Major League baseball. The White Sox will look to have both pitchers healthy and confident to begin 2026, which could put them in a position to make an impact at the big league level sooner rather than later.