The Chicago White Sox have already leaned heavily on their prospects this season, and that trend could continue after the All-Star break. More than a dozen young players have gotten the call in 2025, including Munetaka Murakami, Tristan Peters and Sam Antonacci, and the club has gotten real production from that wave of rookies.
That’s a big reason Chicago is sitting at 50-45 entering the second half. With the lineup largely settled when healthy, the next round of promotions would likely come from the pitching side, where the organization has several arms worth watching.
Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith remain central to the rebuild, but Smith’s path has been bumpy. The White Sox took him fifth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Arkansas after a huge final college season, and he quickly became one of the top pitching prospects in the sport.
He’s now the White Sox’s No. 3 prospect, but health and control have slowed him down. Last year, he put up a 3.57 ERA in Double-A while issuing 56 walks in 75.2 innings.
This season, the command issues have continued, with 36 walks in 52 innings, and he’s also allowed more hits and runs than he did a year ago. The raw stuff is still there - a big fastball and a wipeout slider - but Smith still has to sharpen the command before a major league promotion makes sense.
Tanner McDougal is another name that could surface later in the year. A fifth-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft out of high school, he has climbed all the way to Triple-A and owns a 2.67 ERA in nine games there.
McDougal, the White Sox’s No. 5 prospect, missed all of May and June because of health issues, but since returning on July 1 he has worked only out of the bullpen. That role could fit him well if Chicago decides to bring him up.
His arsenal is loud: an upper-90s fastball, plus a curveball and slider that give him real swing-and-miss potential. The comparison that comes to mind is Grant Taylor, and if McDougal reaches the majors in the second half, the expectation is that he’d come out of relief.
Mason Adams is the sleeper on the list, but he may be the most polished of the group. The White Sox drafted him in the 13th round in 2022, and after a 2024 season in which he posted a 2.92 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A, he was knocking on the door of the big leagues.
Tommy John surgery in spring training wiped out that momentum, though he has recently returned. Adams is currently the White Sox’s No. 10 prospect.
What he lacks in pure velocity, he makes up for with precision. Adams has walked only 69 batters in 271 total innings, and his command stands out in a system that could use it.
His fastball doesn’t have much run, but he works effectively with offspeed and breaking pitches. If Smith and McDougal aren’t ready, Adams could be the one to fill a back-end rotation spot soon, though his profile doesn’t point to a bullpen role.
If the White Sox can get any of these arms into the mix in the second half, they might end up being more than just depth pieces. In a year that was supposed to be about rebuilding, the next wave of call-ups could still shape a push toward the postseason.
In Other News...
Why White Sox Fans Are Suddenly Debating Their New Top Prospect
The 2026 MLB Draft in Philadelphia gave the White Sox a new centerpiece when they took UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the No. 1 overall pick, and that alone was enough to spark an easy conversation about where he fits in the organizations future. In a lot of systems, a top pick instantly becomes the name everyone circles as the clubs best prospect, but that is not always how these lists shake out, especially when a team already has premium young talent in the pipeline.
For Chicago, the timing is what makes the debate interesting. Noah Schultz has already moved past the rookie threshold, and Braden Montgomery is close enough to his own limit that the path is opening for Cholowsky to rise to the top of the White Sox prospect board. That does not make the discussion any less lively, because the question now is less about whether Cholowsky belongs near the top and more about how quickly he can claim the No. 1 spot for himself. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Can't Delay These Three Roster Decisions Any Longer
The White Sox are at the point in the second half where the margins on the roster matter more than the long-term patience that shaped the first half. With the bullpen still looking for another arm and the everyday lineup not getting enough from the bottom of the order, the front office has a few obvious places to start if it wants to squeeze more value out of the current group.
One of the cleaner ideas is a look at Tanner McDougal, whose right-handed relief profile could give the bullpen a needed lift without forcing a bigger shuffle. The other pressure points are less tidy, especially behind the plate and in the outfield, where the club has to decide whether to keep waiting on struggling players or turn to internal options already sitting in the system. [Read more 🡒]