The 2 pitchers that will define the 2026 White Sox season

The 2026 White Sox have a lot of questions to answer. Will the young core of players like Colson Montgomery and Kyle Teel, who established themselves in 2025, take a step forward in 2026? Will Munetaka Murakami make enough contact to bring his light-tower power from Japan to the Majors? Will Anthony Kay’s success overseas carry back over to Chicago? Will Shane Smith, Sean Burke, or any other young pitcher that showed flashes in 2025 take the next step? 

Among this seemingly endless list of questions is perhaps the biggest one of the bunch: Will top pitching prospects Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz bounce-back after a tough 2025?

It’s not an exaggeration to consider this the most important question of the 2026 season, and perhaps even the entire rebuild. It’s hard not to feel great about where the White Sox are at organizationally from a position-player standpoint. The young core of hitters is starting to fall into place, but the pitching staff leaves some questions. The White Sox have a handful of solid pitching prospects outside of Schultz and Smith, but the majority project as backend starters rather than true frontline arms. Prospects like Tanner McDougal and Christian Oppor have rapidly risen in the past year, and it’s certainly possible they become top starting pitchers, but they’re far from the blue-chippers that Schultz and Smith are. 

It’s not the end of the world if the White Sox don’t develop a true ace from within, but it certainly makes things more difficult. The White Sox would need to turn to the free agent or trade market to land their ace, and it would cost a fortune either in prospect capital or cash. The team has never shown a willingness to spend big on pitching, with Dallas Keuchel’s three-year, $55 million contract in 2020 remaining the largest deal they’ve ever given to a starting pitcher. The idea that the White Sox will go out and sign a pitcher to a massive contract, potentially risking losing a draft pick in the process if the pitcher received a qualifying offer, seems like a longshot. 

That leaves the trade market, which is certainly possible, but the White Sox would like to have a consistent pipeline of developing players and trading away from that could hurt them in the long run. The simplest solution remains developing an ace from within, with Schultz and Smith the most likely candidates. 

Smith and Schultz are both looking to rebound in their own ways

Both Schultz and Smith ran into trouble in 2025, but for very different reasons. Smith’s troubles were mostly mechanical, and the White Sox have worked with him on simplifying his delivery in order to throw more strikes. For Schultz, a lingering knee injury may have been to blame for his downtick in stuff and elevated walk rate. The focus for Schultz has been on rehabbing and getting healthy for 2026. It’s far too early to give up on either player. Both will enter 2026 with a chance to pitch their way to the major leagues this season, and the White Sox have remained confident in both to bounce-back. If both struggle again in 2026, however, it’ll be time to be concerned. It’s hard to envision feeling much better about where the team is at following 2026 if Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz are continuing to struggle. 

The White Sox are looking to take a step forward this season and they still have a few questions to answer. With just over two weeks remaining until Spring Training, the time for talk is nearly over, and the time for action is just beginning.