Portrait of a pitcher in progress: Smith (No. 5) learning as he goes in AFL
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CHICAGO -- Hagen Smith's time with the White Sox covers 23 regular-season Minor League starts, two postseason starts, 92 1/3 cumulative innings pitched and 18 months in total.
So, what’s the biggest change for the No. 5 White Sox prospect (and No. 88 overall, per MLB Pipeline), from when he first began his professional career to his current work in the Arizona Fall League? It truly begins with the learning and development time spent for the talented southpaw.
“Basically just a full year under my belt, you know, in pro ball,” said Smith during a Thursday evening Zoom. “That's the biggest difference.
“When I feel good mechanically, it frees up my mind to be able to attack the zone and trust my stuff. I feel like I have really good stuff, and when I get ahead in counts it's when things go good for me."
Smith, 22, presently has a 2.57 ERA over five starts for the Glendale Desert Dogs, with 21 strikeouts, seven hits allowed and six walks yielded over 14 innings. Those low-hit numbers aren’t too different from his championship run for 2025 Double-A Birmingham, when Smith posted a 3.57 ERA in 20 starts covering 75 ⅔ innings with 42 hits allowed and 108 strikeouts against 56 walks. He also fanned 16 in nine innings over two Southern League playoff starts, allowing just two hits and seven walks.
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But it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing throughout the season, by Smith’s own admission.
“My year was just all right. Definitely went through some ups and downs, but I think failing helped me a lot to improve,” Smith said. “Just keep working on my mechanics. ... I feel really good where I’m at right now.”
From May 11 to June 28, Smith was sidelined by left elbow soreness leading to this extended break for biomechanics and mechanics work in Arizona. Smith put those adjustments into play, which helped from his Birmingham return through the mound trips in Arizona including a selection for the AFL Fall Stars Game.
“I'm still working on mechanics stuff,” Smith said. “Just kind of making sure it’s little tweaks here and there. Right now, just focused on [staying] slow and smooth down the mound.”
“He's slowed it down a little bit,” said Birmingham manager Guillermo Quiroz during an end-of-season interview regarding Smith’s delivery adjustments seen during his playoff outings. “He was working too quick in the beginning and just filling up the zone with strikes. If you pay attention, the outings where he struggled a little bit, the walks were a big thing. Toward the end of the season, they got cut down and that's when he started having success."
The incorporation of the changeup into his repertoire with the fastball and slider has been a focus in Glendale.
"Adding that changeup as I go up to each level, I feel like it’s key for me,” Smith said. “It feels good right now. It’s trying to figure out what counts I want to throw it in, trying to execute at the bottom part of the zone.”
Another new pitch also could be in the equation for Smith, although he hasn’t decided on that pitch or talked to others in the organization about what it should be.
For the White Sox, getting left-handed pitching prospects Smith and Noah Schultz to be Major League-ready for the start of the 2026 campaign was an organization goal prior to the beginning of ‘25.
With slightly uneven seasons and injuries for both, neither Smith nor Schultz -- Chicago’s No. 2 prospect (No. 40 overall) – figure to break camp with the team, but they should earn promotions at some point this upcoming campaign.
To be honest, Smith is looking at his next two AFL starts and nothing beyond. But he feels good in the moment.
“Honestly, I feel awesome. I feel really good,” Smith said. “I feel like I have a really good routine that keeps me feeling good. After the injury, just taking a step back and looking at what I was doing wrong and what I wasn’t doing. Coming back from that, I felt honestly really really good every single week.”
“He's a workhorse. He worked so hard all year,” Quiroz said. “Yes, he [had to] sit down with the injury, but he came back and he didn't look back. He has a goal in his mind, and he wants to be in the big leagues and he wants to be a front-end starter … You can see the drive in his face."