White Sox Top Prospects Schultz & Smith Nearing MLB Call-Up

Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith aren’t at Rate Field yet. The White Sox aren’t apologizing for it.

General manager Chris Getz has been upfront all spring: both pitching prospects will get to Chicago at some point in 2026. But two and a half weeks into the season, they’re still logging innings at Triple-A Charlotte, and that’s exactly where the organization wants them right now.

Don’t mistake patience for stalling.

The service-time arithmetic here isn’t subtle. Under Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, players need 172 days of Major League service time within a 186-day season to bank a full year of team control. With roughly two and a half weeks already off the calendar before either pitcher gets the call, the White Sox have quietly secured an additional year of control over both men without any formal announcement, without a press release, and without anyone having to answer uncomfortable questions in the offseason. The calendar handled it.

The Cubs pulled a version of this with Kris Bryant back in 2015. That situation drew outrage because Bryant was clearly ready and the delay felt like nothing more than an accounting move. This one’s messier to characterize.

Schultz, a left-hander drafted in 2022, dealt with a knee problem that slowed his 2025 development. Smith was taken in the 2024 draft and the Sox are still building his workload from scratch, keeping him in three-inning stints while they stretch him out carefully. Getz made the case himself last week.

“After last year, battling a bit of a knee issue, [Schultz] looks like he’s back and ready to go. Multiple pitches. He’s got his cutter working, with some real velocity and command,” Getz said. “And Hagen has been doing well. His outings are only in three-inning [range] right now. We’re going to continue to build that.”

That’s a reasonable explanation. It’s also convenient. Both things can be true at once.

What’s harder to ignore is the backdrop those two pitchers are returning to. The Sox lost 121 games in 2024. They weren’t built to compete that year, and they weren’t built to compete last year either. A front office managing a genuine rebuild doesn’t have the luxury of treating service-time rules as an afterthought. Getz knows what he’s doing. He’s done it without pretending otherwise, which puts him a step ahead of most executives who offer the same non-answers when reporters ask why a prospect is still in Charlotte the second week of April.

The position player numbers out of Charlotte aren’t making it easier to stay patient, for fans anyway. Infielder-turned-left fielder Sam Antonacci has come out swinging, posting a .342/.500/.526 slash line through the early weeks. Second baseman William Bergolla Jr. is hitting .457/.525/.571. Right-hander Tanner McDougal has also attracted attention in Charlotte. These are tiny samples and anyone who’s watched minor league ball long enough knows that April numbers can evaporate by Memorial Day. But they’re the kind of numbers that have fans refreshing box scores at midnight.

The Chicago Sun-Times has tracked the Charlotte situation closely, noting the buzz around both Schultz and Smith as they work back into form. The organization’s line hasn’t changed: development first, big-league clock second.

After 121 losses in 2024, that framing isn’t hard to sell. A team coming off a historic losing season that extends control over two legitimate pitching prospects while also giving those prospects more time to develop isn’t doing something cynical. It’s doing the math. The Sox lost enough games in 2024 to earn the benefit of the doubt on a two-week roster decision in 2026.

Whether Schultz and Smith arrive in May or June, they’re coming. Getz hasn’t hidden that. What Chicago gets when they do show up at Rate Field matters far more than when the service clock starts ticking.