{"id":617598,"date":"2026-03-10T23:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617598\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:17:10","slug":"chicago-white-sox-coach-bobby-hearn-on-starter-shane-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617598\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox coach Bobby Hearn on starter Shane Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Bobby Hearn called it a \u201cfull-circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new Chicago White Sox assistant pitching coach<\/a> was among the group in manager Will Venable\u2019s office on Sunday when his former Wake Forest teammate Shane Smith was named the opening-day starting pitcher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019s just the start of it for him,\u201d Hearn said on Monday at Camelback Ranch. \u201cBut incredibly deserving, really hard working. Very passionate about what he does, you can see the intensity day to day. So a very cool moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearn, 29, pitched at Wake Forest from 2016-20, and was a team captain his final two seasons. Smith redshirted because of an injury in 2019, and then appeared in seven games over the 2020-21 seasons for the Demon Deacons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both had our ups and downs in college,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cHe had a really tough couple of years with injuries, going down with the shoulder (surgery freshman year) and then the elbow after (Tommy John surgery junior year). Definitely some tough moments for him. And cool to see him persevere through that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was at Wake Forest, he steps on campus, you could see the talent. He was throwing hard, he had a great breaking ball. Unfortunately, it was just being able to stay on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox assistant pitching coach Bobby Hearn on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo\/Brynn Anderson)<\/p>\n

Smith signed with Milwaukee as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He pitched in the Brewers organization over the next three seasons (2022-24) before being selected by the Sox during the Rule 5 draft in December 2024.<\/p>\n

He had a successful 2025, joining Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla (2006) as the only players in major-league history to make an All-Star team<\/a> in the year following their Rule 5 draft selection. Smith will face the Brewers in the opener on March 26 in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst year in the big leagues is always really difficult, he had to do it on a very interesting timeline being a Rule 5 pick,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cNow, just continuing to \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t say get comfortable, but just continue to get more established and comfortable attacking. Just being himself, understanding his strengths and how to leverage that multiple times through lineups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith had a tough outing Tuesday, allowing five runs on five hits with two strikeouts and four walks in 2 2\/3 innings against the Athletics at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. He surrendered two solo home runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically (stuff was), great,\u201d Smith said after the outing. \u201cJust didn\u2019t do it really when it mattered with two strikes. Talking with (pitching coach Zach) Bove and creating an attack plan for when you get into those counts of how you want to go about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll throw a bullpen this week and play around with it and get ready for the next start.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work continues toward the regular season for Smith, who Hearn described as\u00a0a \u201csuper intense, very direct guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox pitcher Shane Smith shows a young player the four-seam grip during the White Sox SoxFest Kids Camp on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the ComEd Recreation Center in Chicago. (Josh Boland\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also really good heart, extremely genuine person,\u201d Hearn added. \u201cWe joke about it, some of the intensity, sometimes it\u2019s fun. But that\u2019s who he is on the field, off the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe comes to the yard with that intensity, he attacks his work days with that same fervor. It\u2019s just a part of who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said he\u2019s enjoyed having the chance to reconnect with Hearn.<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby saw me when my career was probably at my lowest,\u201d Smith said on Sunday. \u201cHe\u2019s somebody I looked up to in college and somebody I relied on. To have him around me now, it will be really cool. Somebody I can joke around with or talk to as more of a friend rather than a coach. But he\u2019s my coach and going to help me get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving somebody else to lean on is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearn joins the Sox after spending the previous two seasons with the Minnesota Twins, where he was an assistant pitching coordinator in 2025 and complex pitching coordinator in 2024.<\/p>\n

He worked with the Twins as the Florida Complex League pitching coach from 2021-22, joining Class A Cedar Rapids for the second half of the 2022 season. Hearn spent 2023 as a pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for pitching at Davidson College before returning to the Twins organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby\u2019s been great,\u201d Sox pitching coach Zach Bove<\/a> recently said. \u201cI knew Bobby with the Twins when I was a coordinator. Bobby is doing great. Super technical, but we see things a lot similarly. We\u2019re definitely on the same page. He\u2019s been great with the guys, it\u2019s definitely been an added asset for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearn sees a pitching staff with \u201ca ton of potential.\u201d He\u2019s excited to work with the group, and to be reunited with Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of similarities towards what he did and how he was in college, which has been funny and also cool to see,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cHis preparation is unmatched. He took that level of care to what he was doing daily and it\u2019s been cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

White Sox make two roster moves<\/p>\n

The Sox reassigned pitchers Ben Peoples and Tyler Schweitzer to minor-league camp on Tuesday. Peoples has allowed three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and four walks in four innings this spring. Schweitzer has allowed three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and four walks in six innings.<\/p>\n

With the moves, the Sox have 50 players remaining in camp: 24 pitchers, five catchers, 10 infielders and 11 outfielders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Bobby Hearn called it a \u201cfull-circle moment.\u201d The new Chicago White Sox assistant pitching coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,64646,5250,138,49,2561,648,4,256,79529,3399,151,10258,396,2562],"class_list":["post-617598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-white-sox","tag-baseball","tag-bobby-hearn","tag-cactus-league","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicagowhitesox","tag-college-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-opening-day-starter","tag-shane-smith","tag-spring-training","tag-wake-forest-demon-deacons","tag-white-sox","tag-whitesox"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116207436605877900","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617598","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=617598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}