\u201cPretty crazy,\u201d the rookie said. \u201cAll of the other stuff with the red carpet and Home Run Derby<\/a> was really cool. Just to try to sit around and enjoy the time with those guys. Obviously the time in the clubhouse is really nice to talk with those guys and get to know them a little bit. The All-Star Game is really special.<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to a lot of guys in the AL Central because that was where our locker was. I think getting to know those guys on a little more personal level was pretty cool. Just eating lunch with the best players in the game was probably my favorite part. (Just) seeing them around and talking some pitching, talking about the state of the league and what that looks like for us was my favorite part.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the game, Smith worked with Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t get to talk to him a ton beforehand,\u201d he said. \u201cI made sure to throw everything in the warmups and I was like, \u2018Do you want to talk?\u2019 And he\u2019s like, he gave me signs like 1-2-3 and I was like, \u2018Yep, that works.\u2019 And we kind of went from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith hit the first batter of the inning, Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Su\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n \u201cI know I hit him (during the regular season) too,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI felt terrible about it. Same spot too. Hands are tricky. I tried to say I\u2019m sorry to him. I talked to (San Francisco Giants pitcher) Logan Webb a little bit about it, I saw him later. He was like, \u2018It\u2019s going to be all right. He probably doesn\u2019t like you too much.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cTrust me, that\u2019s the last thing I wanted to do, especially hit somebody, especially in the All-Star Game. And he\u2019s having a great year. And I\u2019ve heard only good things about him. If I could ever get a chance to talk to him, I would apologize. If there\u2019s anything I could get him that he doesn\u2019t already have, I\u2019d get it for him. Hopefully he doesn\u2019t hate me too much. But he probably does and I understand if he does.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith rebounded to get James Wood of the Washington Nationals to ground into a forceout.<\/p>\n \u201cI just didn\u2019t want to walk somebody after (hitting Su\u00e1rez), especially,\u201d Smith said. \u201cTry to get an out and hopefully put my team in a position for that comeback that they made.\u201d<\/p>\n Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre, an honorary AL coach, then walked to the mound to take Smith out of the game.\u00a0Smith said he had \u201cno idea\u201d Torre would be part of his exit.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said, \u2018Way to bounce back,\u2019 and gave some words of encouragement as I walked off,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Sox manager Will Venable liked what he saw from Smith in the outing.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought he did great and I was glad Su\u00e1rez didn\u2019t break any bones there,\u201d Venable said. \u201cI thought he did great. Represented our club well and glad he got in some action.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith was a part of All-Star history<\/a>. According to Elias, Smith became the second player since at least 2000 to become an All-Star in the season after being selected in the Rule 5 draft<\/a>. He joined Dan Uggla, who earned his first All-Star selection in 2006 with the Marlins.<\/p>\n With the All-Star festivities complete, Smith is ready to return to the mound for the Sox. He\u2019s slated to pitch at some point during the upcoming road series against the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n \u201cReally focusing on making sure I\u2019m doing everything I did at the beginning (of the season),\u201d Smith said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s midweek work, bullpen, training room. Just making sure I\u2019m putting my best foot forward. Just want to get back on a roll again, start getting consistent outings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Chicago White Sox starter Shane Smith found out he would be making an appearance in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[3426,5,138,49,2561,92,565,24569,4,3399,396,2562,998],"class_list":{"0":"post-186661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-alejandro-kirk","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-chicagowhitesox","13":"tag-eugenio-suarez","14":"tag-james-wood","15":"tag-joe-torre","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-shane-smith","18":"tag-white-sox","19":"tag-whitesox","20":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114877295830554086","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"White](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-Z-SOX-SMITH_99d13e.jpg\")
White Sox pitcher Shane Smith walks the field before the All-Star Game on July 15, 2025, at Truist Park in Atlanta. (Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n