For most of Tuesday night, it looked like Chicago White Sox rookie starting pitcher Shane Smith was not going to make an appearance in the 2025 MLB All-Star Game.
To the delight of White Sox fans, the American League surprisingly handed the ball to Smith in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Given all the adversity Shame Smith has overcome this season, it was nice to see his strong first half rewarded with not just an All-Star selection, but the chance to actually pitch in the All-Star Game. That's a moment that Smith will be telling his kids and grandkids about, regardless of what happens for the rest of his big league career.
Smith is the first pitcher in MLB history to be picked in the Rule 5 Draft and make the All-Star Game in the following year. Watching him toe the rubber in the Midsummer Classic was historic.
Unfortunately, Smith is getting some complete unfair criticism online after his performance.
Smith hits Eugenio Suarez with a pitch
Shane Smith's outing was pretty standard. Because AL manager Aaron Boone was making an effort to get as many pitchers in the game as possible, Smith only faced two batters before being pulled by Hall of Famer Joe Torre.
Smith hit the first batter he faced, Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez, with a pitch. He then got James Wood to ground into a fielders choice and was removed with 0.1 innings pitched and 0 runs allowed.
Suarez, who is on pace for 53 home runs this season, is currently one of the biggest names on the trade market for the upcoming deadline. Every contending team is salivating at the thought of adding that type of power to their lineup.
Smith receives unfair backlash
Because of all the buzz surrounding Suarez, Smith received a lot of backlash on social media when Suarez was holding his hand in pain.
Shane Smith making a strong case for NOT requiring every team to have representation at the MLB all star game
— Billando (@Billando) July 16, 2025
The every team representative thing has to go because why is Shane Smith an all star with a 4.26 ERA and 1.30 WHIP
— Houston Sports Enjoyer (@YAE1722) July 16, 2025
This is absolutely outrageous! Shane Smith hit Suarez in a 10-0 game on June 23
— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) July 16, 2025
First pitch to Geno here up and in, and then two pitches later hits him on the hand.
That was intentional. Nobody will EVER convince me otherwise
MLB fans (and some moronic writers) were piling on, but just because Smith made a mistake during the All-Star Game, doesn't mean he didn't deserve to be there.
Having every team represented in the All-Star Game is one aspect of it that makes it really special. All 30 fanbases have a reason to watch, and some players would be otherwise overlooked if they don't play on competitive teams.
Shane Smith's 4.26 ERA and 1.30 WHIP may not be the typical numbers you see from an All-Star starting pitchers, but for over two months, he was one of the most dominant arms in the American League.
As of June 15, Smith had a 2.37 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 68.1 innings. As Smith has thrown more innings and worn down, he has struggled. But he's more than deserving of his All-Star status when you realize he was one of the best pitchers in MLB for 11 weeks.
Calling Shane Smith's strong first half into question because of one pitch foolish. Asking for an MLB rule change because of it is even worse. Sometimes, guys are going to get hit by a pitch. Welcome to baseball.
Shane Smith did nothing wrong and he escaped his first MLB All-Star Game without allowing a run. He made White Sox fans proud.