GLENDALE, Ariz. — Hagen Smith isn’t setting any expectations in regard to the possibility of making his major-league debut at some point this season.
“Go out there and compete, that’s all I’m going to do,” Smith said Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.
The 2024 first-round pick is part of the next wave of Chicago White Sox prospects, along with fellow left-hander Noah Schultz. Smith and Schultz — a first-round pick in 2022 — are at Sox camp as nonroster invitees.
“We know they’re getting closer, just want to make sure they’re establishing all the things in the weight room, in the training room and that we’re able to support their continued growth knowing that they’re going to be coming here at some point,” manager Will Venable said of Smith and Schultz on Tuesday. “When that is, we’ll see but really just about establishing the foundation for them to carry their performance throughout the year.”
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Smith, 22, went 3-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 20 starts for Double-A Birmingham last season. He had 108 strikeouts and 56 walks in 75 2/3 innings. Smith also participated in the Arizona Fall League, compiling a 2.57 ERA, 21 strikeouts and six walks in 14 innings over five starts. He recently was ranked the No. 72 prospect in baseball by MLB.com.
“I feel like I got a lot better this offseason and I want to prove it,” Smith said.
Schultz, 22, went 4-5 with a 4.68 ERA in 17 starts between Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. The Oswego East product had 76 strikeouts in 73 innings. MLB.com ranked Schultz as the No. 49 prospect in baseball.
Schultz said he has a ton of goals for the season, with staying healthy the top priority. Overall, Schultz is focused on “getting better every day, getting 1% better.”
This is the second spring invite for Schultz and Smith. Going through the process last year was helpful.
“Last year was new,” Schultz said Tuesday. “It’s cool a lot of the guys are returning, it’s good to see them.”
White Sox pitcher Hagen Smith, center, walks with other pitchers after running during spring training at Camelback Ranch on Feb. 15, 2025, in Glendale, Ariz.(Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
This spring, the Sox want to see the two continue to build up.
“Obviously, they’re going to start most likely in Triple A, and so we want to make sure that they’re on their path,” Venable said Wednesday. “Hagen is a little bit behind because of the Fall League — and so his ramp-up will be thoughtful, and we’ll make sure that he’s in a good spot to get going in his Triple-A season to be pitching every fifth day and eventually with us in Chicago.
“He’s in a good spot, and if it was up to him, he’d be full-bore. But he’s just maybe a week or two behind where the other guys are with the ramp-up.”
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While Smith and Schultz are working their way through the Sox minor-league system, right-hander Drew Thorpe is working his way back from Tommy John surgery.
“Feel all right,” Thorpe said Thursday morning. “Hit some road bumps, so slowed down a little bit. Every surgery is different, so taking it day by day and we’ll get there when we get there.
“Some pain in there building up, slowed it down.”
Thorpe is hoping to throw off the mound in “the next three weeks or so.”
“I don’t think it’s worry,” Thorpe said. “I think it’s just every surgery is a little bit different. You can’t really look at other guys and say ‘Why am I not in that position?’ The body heals differently.
“I don’t think it’s worry. Just a slower pace, which sucks, but at the end of the day I would rather slow it down and be fully ready to go when I’m ready instead of trying to push through it and have some problems once we get closer off the mound.”
Thorpe went 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA in nine starts for the Sox in 2024 after being acquired as part of the trade that sent Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres.
Late last March, the Sox announced that Thorpe would undergo surgery — costing him the 2025 season. Thorpe said he had been throwing at 120 feet and “was feeling it a little bit, so went and saw (Dr. Keith) Meister last week.”
“Said the ligament looks good, everything looks good in there,” Thorpe said. “Dealing with some flexor stuff so slowing it down a little bit. We’ll see how the next couple of weeks go.
“It is tendonitis. Nothing structurally wrong in there. Everything looks good in there. So, obviously a good sign. It just slows me down a little bit which is frustrating but day by day we’ll get there.”
Thorpe, 25, is eager to take the next step.
“You think about it every day,” he said. “But not much you can do about it. Just have to slowly keep pushing forward.”
Spring broadcast schedule
The Sox released their spring broadcast schedule Thursday, including nine games on CHSN and 10 on WMVP-AM 1000 (ESPN Chicago radio).
The list of games are: Feb. 20 at Cubs (ESPN Chicago), Feb. 21 vs. Athletics (CHSN and ESPN Chicago), Feb. 22 vs. Milwaukee (CHSN), Feb. 27 vs. Texas (ESPN Chicago and whitesox.com), Feb. 28 at Cleveland (CHSN — Guardians broadcast), March 1 at Cubs (ESPN Chicago), March 2 vs. San Francisco (ESPN Chicago and whitesox.com), March 7 at Seattle (CHSN — Mariners broadcast and ESPN Chicago, March 8 vs. Kansas City (ESPN Chicago and whitesox.com), March 13 vs. Cubs (CHSN and ESPN Chicago), March 14 vs. Dodgers (CHSN and ESPN Chicago), March 19 at San Diego (CHSN — Padres broadcast), March 19 vs. Arizona (ESPN Chicago), March 21 vs. Dodgers (Spring Breakout Game, CHSN) and March 22 vs. Seattle (CHSN).