The White Sox are set to give two of their top pitching prospects a look, with right-hander Tanner McDougal and left-hander Hagen Smith both on track for their first big league calls, according to Ian Eskridge of Future Sox.
McDougal’s path is the simpler one. He’s already on the 40-man roster after the White Sox selected his contract last offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, so his first promotion is technically a recall. Smith will require a roster move, since Chicago will need to select his contract and clear a spot on the 40-man.
The club also has to make room on the active roster, and that means two pitchers are going down. James Fox of Future Sox reports that Noah Schultz and David Sandlin will be optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.
Sandlin had just been recalled earlier today when Chris Murphy went on the injured list, but he was forced into heavy work behind Schultz after a rough sequence that started with a bad error by manager Will Venable. Schultz got only one out before Venable had to pull him, and Sandlin ended up covering 5 1/3 innings.
That long outing came with a messy explanation after the game. Venable admitted he lost track of the mound-visit rule while trying to set up an appeal play.
“Just an inexcusable mistake by me where we had an appeal play that we wanted to execute, and in the urgency of trying to make that happen, just totally lost that we had visited, and obviously that was a mistake,” the skipper said postgame (via Scott Merkin of MLB.com). “So just messed it up.”
Sandlin was charged with six runs in an 8-2 loss to the Guardians.
The bullpen had already been stretched thin. Trevor Richards threw 25 pitches over 2 1/3 innings, and Erick Fedde used 15 pitches for a scoreless frame. Both had also pitched the day before, after Chicago used seven relievers in a 13-inning loss to the Red Sox, which tied for the longest game all season.
Optioning Sandlin was straightforward. Schultz was tougher, since he and Huascar Brazobán were the only other pitchers with options the Sox could have sent down.
Schultz will have to stay in Triple-A for at least 15 days. Chicago also still needs a fifth starter by the middle of next week, with possibilities including moving Fedde back into the rotation, recalling Jonathan Cannon or José Urquidy, or activating rehabbing right-hander Drew Thorpe from the injured list.
The timing isn’t ideal, but it does give the Sox a chance to see two arms with real upside. Smith is the more recognizable name, thanks to being the fifth overall pick in the 2024 draft. The Arkansas product went one pick after Nick Kurtz and ahead of Jac Caglianone, JJ Wetherholt and Konnor Griffin.
The early results at Triple-A Charlotte have been a mixed bag. Smith has posted a 4.32 ERA over 58 1/3 innings, but the strikeout numbers have jumped off the page: a 34.5% strikeout rate against a 16% walk rate.
He missed a month with an injury and has worked in one-inning relief since returning. His first outing back included three walks, but he’s since put together five straight scoreless appearances with eight strikeouts.
The profile is familiar. Smith has long been known for a plus fastball and a wipeout slider, but he still hasn’t found a reliable third pitch or consistent command. Because of that, many scouts have already seen him fitting in the bullpen, even if the ceiling there is high-end.
Baseball America ranks Smith fifth in the White Sox system and said he has some similarities to a young Josh Hader, though he’ll need a much better handle on his command to get anywhere near that level. Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Gawlowski of FanGraphs had him as Chicago’s No. 2 prospect and just inside their overall Top 100, also pointing to a bullpen future while projecting him as a back-end weapon.
McDougal sits one spot behind Smith in Baseball America’s organizational rankings. They describe the 6-foot-5 right-hander as having a plus fastball-curveball mix, while also noting below-average control. That has shown up in the numbers at Charlotte, where he owns a 2.86 ERA in 34 2/3 innings, mostly out of the bullpen, with a 28% strikeout rate and a 14% walk rate.
McDougal missed May and June because of an injury, and this season he has leaned more on a mid-80s slider than his curveball. FanGraphs also graded that slider as a plus pitch. His four-seam fastball is averaging 98.2 mph.
For now, both prospects are headed into a bullpen situation that is short on stability. They may not stay up long, but with Chicago’s current relief picture, there’s a real chance both McDougal and Smith make their MLB debuts before the weekend ends.
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