White Sox prospect Hagen Smith hits new heights in scoreless Triple-A outing
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Coming up on the second anniversary of being drafted fifth overall by the White Sox, Hagen Smith has hardly looked better.
MLB's No. 47 prospect matched his season high of nine strikeouts and set a professional best of 92 pitches in a scoreless start as Triple-A Charlotte topped Durham, 12-5, on Sunday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Smith scattered three hits and three walks across 4 2/3 innings in his third scoreless outing of the season. The deep counts from the free passes and K's made his pitch count rapidly rise, but the Arkansas product avoided any damage by racking up a season-high 19 swings-and-misses and picking off a runner.
It was the second start of the series for Smith against the Bulls, and the Rays affiliate still couldn't figure him out five days later. The White Sox No. 4 prospect also struck out nine while holding Durham to one run on two hits over 4 1/3 innings on Tuesday.
Smith has racked up 72 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings this season, and his 34.5 percent strikeout rate represents a career high. On the other hand, the 22-year-old also has 33 walks this season, and no qualified big league starter has had a walk rate as high as his 16.1 percent mark since Todd Van Poppel in 1994 (16.6 percent), per FanGraphs.
Still, with a dynamic repertoire led by Smith's plus fastball and slider, he could be knocking on the door of the Majors soon. The injury bug has bitten the White Sox rotation pretty hard, and the durability of MLB's No. 9 LHP prospect could help him join fellow lefty Noah Schultz (No. 4) on the South Side in short order.