White Sox pitching prospect Hagen Smith is still quieting the critics this fall

For White Sox pitching prospect Hagen Smith, the 2025 season was supposed to be his breakout campaign that brought him to the cusp of the Big Leagues. A dominant, quick-rising force on the mound is what the White Sox envisioned when they used the fifth overall pick on Smith in the 2024 draft. Despite an organization saturated with pitching depth and a clear need for offensive firepower, the White Sox were enamored enough with Smith’s talent to make him the selection. Unfortunately, 2025 wasn’t the smooth sailing the White Sox envisioned for Smith, and instead proved to be a big test. 

The White Sox were aggressive with Smith from the get go, opting to skip the Low-A level entirely and start him at High-A Winston-Salem at the end of 2024. The aggressiveness continued into this season, and Smith started 2025 at Double-A Birmingham after just three starts in A ball. Smith’s 2025 campaign didn’t get off to an ideal start despite a promising spring showing. He wasn’t hit around much, but he really struggled with his control, walking 16 hitters in 17.1 innings in April, including a six-walk outing to finish the month. The control issues were particularly concerning because it’s a problem Smith never really dealt with in college– control was one of his strengths at Arkansas. Not only that, but his stuff appeared to have regressed as well. Smith’s average fastball velocity was down a couple miles per hour, and it left Sox fans wondering if an injury might be to blame. 

Sure enough, after his May 10 outing, Smith was placed on the injured list with forearm discomfort, an ailment that has a tendency to be an ominous sign of a more serious issue. Still, the White Sox insisted there was no structural damage, and Smith returned after six weeks following a stop in Arizona for some mechanical adjustments. White Sox pitching director Brian Bannister spoke in more detail about the adjustments Smith made, but in short, they were looking for him to return to his college mechanics and felt that improved control would follow. Smith stayed healthy for the remainder of the season, but the results were inconsistent. It became a frustrating watch for White Sox fans, as Smith would look dominant one outing and completely struggle to find the plate in the next. The criticisms grew loud, especially when Pirates outfielder Konnor Griffin, who was still on the board when the White Sox chose Smith, was named the top prospect in all of baseball.

Over the past few weeks, however, Smith has shown why the White Sox believed in him enough to choose him fifth overall in the draft, and still believe in him today. 

Hagen Smith's late season surge

The Barons turned to Smith during their playoff run in September, and Smith absolutely delivered. In what was undoubtedly his best outing as a pro, Smith fired five no-hit innings in the playoffs against Chattanooga, striking out ten hitters and walking just two. The Barons' championship season came to a close, but the season isn’t over for Smith, who has been sent to the Arizona Fall League to get more innings under his belt.

Through two starts in the AFL, Smith has continued to show the talent that made him one of the top picks in the 2024 draft. In six innings so far in Arizona, he hasn’t allowed a run and has fanned nine. He’s walked four over two outings, and his velocity seems to be back where it was in college.

 It’s a small sample size, but Smith has seemed to get better as the season’s gone on, and at just 22, there’s plenty of time for him to figure it out and develop into the frontline starter that the White Sox hope he can be. While I understand the criticism and discontentment considering the players the White Sox passed on, Hagen Smith is a very talented pitcher who just finished his first full season of pro baseball. He’ll now get a full offseason to work on getting more comfortable with his altered mechanics and focus on throwing strikes more consistently. Reaching the Double-A level at 22 puts him right on track with many other top prospects, so it is far too early to throw in the towel. Development isn’t linear, and sometimes players need to overcome adversity to learn how to succeed at the highest level. 

2026 will be a big year for Smith, and a good start to the season could have him knocking on the door of a big league call-up. The past couple weeks in Arizona have shown that the talent is there, and he has all the tools he needs to quiet the critics and succeed. My plea to Sox fans growing restless: be patient, because I have a feeling that a fully healthy Hagen Smith with a lot to prove in 2026 is going to be fun to watch.