{"id":565722,"date":"2026-02-11T06:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/565722\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T06:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:38:35","slug":"chicago-white-sox-starter-shane-smith-looks-to-build-on-all-star-rookie-season-as-spring-training-gets-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/565722\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox starter Shane Smith looks to build on All-Star rookie season as spring training gets underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Shane Smith entered Chicago White Sox camp last season vying for a role after being selected in the Rule 5 draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A lot has changed in one year. But Smith is approaching camp with a similar mindset.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot of it is the same, just in terms of personal potential and trying to be the best I can possibly be on any given day,\u201d Smith told the Tribune on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch. \u201cWhatever the role is, whatever they want from me, that\u2019s not up to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally trying to make sure I put in good, daily work and build good routines and making sure I\u2019m ready to go every five days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was up for the challenge last season, becoming the first rookie pitcher in Sox history to be selected to an All-Star team<\/a> and just the second player in major-league history to make an All-Star team in the year following his Rule 5 draft selection \u2014 joining Marlins\u2019 second baseman Dan Uggla in 2006.<\/p>\n

Smith finished the season 7-8 with a 3.81 ERA in 29 starts. The right-hander had 145 strikeouts in 146 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

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3 Chicago White Sox storylines to watch in spring training, including slugger Munetaka Murakami\u2019s role<\/a><\/p>\n

He completed 2025 in style, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning during the final game of the regular season against the Washington Nationals. Smith allowed one hit over six scoreless innings, striking out eight in the 8-0 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith, who turns 26 in April, said his biggest takeaways from 2025 included \u201cmaking sure I\u2019m ready to go when my name is called every five to six days and making sure I\u2019m getting the routines in now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tweak stuff later, you can tweak stuff now,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut lay a good foundation in the next couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Smith was back at it on Tuesday, throwing a bullpen session in a group with Sean Burke and Jonathan Cannon as pitchers and catchers participated in their first workout of the spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cShane looks great,\u201d manager Will Venable said Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that coming into camp last year as a Rule 5 guy, not an easy thing to do. And we saw how quickly he really embraced that and performed at a really high level. This year, he\u2019s got that year under his belt. He doesn\u2019t have the pressure of being a Rule 5 guy \u2014 I\u2019m not sure that it really impacts him at all anyway. If anything else, it helped him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo just really excited to see what he does as a guy that\u2019s got a full year in the big leagues, knowing he was able to accomplish all those things as a Rule 5 pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith is one of several Sox players preparing for Year 2.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s some component of survival in this game, no matter what \u2014 there\u2019s just not room for error for anybody in this league,\u201d Venable said, speaking generally. \u201cAt the same time, to get through a year in which you have proved to yourself and proved to your teammates that you can perform at this level, I think, is a huge confidence booster for all these guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly looking forward to seeing what the next step for that young group is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith made sure to take some time at the beginning of the offseason to reset.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then once you start getting back in the weight room and doing all that stuff again, the mind starts saying, \u2018Let\u2019s get this going again,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m ready to get into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Smith looks to build upon his 2025 season with the approach of \u201cleave the good and take the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUse all the things you struggled with last year, and obviously make sure you use your strengths,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut, like not throwing offspeed pitches for strikes \u2014 it\u2019s like OK, let\u2019s make sure we do a lot more of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s realizing what you did well and using it, but also, hey, let\u2019s raise the floor a little bit rather than trying to push through the ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sox officially added to their pitching staff on Tuesday, announcing a one-year, $1.5 million deal with pitcher Erick Fedde<\/a>. Reports of the signing surfaced on Monday.<\/p>\n

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To make room for Fedde on the 40-man roster, the Sox placed pitcher Ky Bush on the 60-day injured list to continue his recovery from Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n

The Sox also traded pitcher Bryan Hudson to the New York Mets for cash considerations. Hudson had been designated for assignment on Feb. 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Venable pays tribute to Terrance Gore<\/p>\n

Venable began Tuesday\u2019s session with reporters paying tribute to Terrance Gore<\/a>. The outfielder died Friday at the age of 34.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lucky enough to coach Terrance for a short time in Chicago (in 2018 with the Cubs),\u201d Venable said. \u201cHe was an amazing human, amazing guy. Obviously taken way too soon, a master at his craft, and just someone that was a pleasure to be around. Really sad news, and just wanted to send some love and condolences to the family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Shane Smith entered Chicago White Sox camp last season vying for a role after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,161,24388,133,5794,4161,4,61,11482,2003,3399,16006,71,396,2562,998],"class_list":["post-565722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-cubs","tag-dan-uggla","tag-erick-fedde","tag-jonathan-cannon","tag-ky-bush","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-rule-5-draft","tag-sean-burke","tag-shane-smith","tag-terrance-gore","tag-washington-nationals","tag-white-sox","tag-whitesox","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116050624707729963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565722","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=565722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}