The White Sox Found A Hidden Gem In The Rule-5 Draft

The 2025 season for the White Sox will be important for player development, as they will have a ton of players making their major league debuts. Most fans are familiar with the top prospects that are set to make their debuts like Kyle Teel and Colson Montgomery, but a new face has been making waves in Spring Training, as Chris Getz may have found himself a diamond in the rough.

With the first pick in the 2025 Rule-5 Draft, Getz selected Shane Smith, a pitcher from the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Smith was both a starter and reliever over a few levels in the minor leagues, but had some very impresssive stats.

Smith spent most of the year in AA, but made it to AAA before the season ended. In 94.1 innings, Smith had a 3.05 ERA and a fantastic 1.05 WHIP. Hitters didn't fare too well against him either, as they had a .205 batting average against. Additionally, he had 113 strikeouts to just 29 walks, which is a phenomenal ratio. The White Sox need more pitchers who can pound the strike zone and Smith fits that bill.

While the Rule-5 Draft is usually a dart throw, the Chris Getz and the White Sox may have found a gem, as after his rough first outing Smith has been lights out.

Smith was thrown right into the fire that is the Dodgers lineup and could not have done any better. In the first inning he struck out Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith. He would go on to pitch two more scoreless innings, striking out Ohtani for a second time.

Shane Smith's 5Ks thru 3. pic.twitter.com/7iBPAp81au

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 8, 2025

This outstanding performance comes on the heels of a perfect two innings agains the Seattle Mariners last week, where he struck out three batters.

In that outing he was lighting up the radar gun, as he got his fastball up to 100 MPH.

Shane Smith, Fourseamer Velo Today
98 98 99 99 99 99 100 98 98 98 98 99 98 97 99
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/B8uGckoRQX

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 1, 2025

In camp the White Sox have been working Smith as a starter, so he could be fighting for the 5th spot in the rotation. At this point, it seems that Martin Perez, Jonathan Cannon, and Davis Martin are locked in for three of the five spots. The White Sox could round it out with Sean Burke and Shane Smith, which would give them a very young and intriguing rotation.

While it is just Spring Training, it is encouraging to see Smith hold his own against some of the best major league hitters. If Smith can continue like this, he could be on his way to be an absolute steal out of the Rule-5 Draft, as it isn't often that you get a major league contributor out of the draft.