CLEVELAND -- Look back at the 2025 Birmingham Barons and there was a time at the season’s outset when Grant Taylor, Hagen Smith and Noah Schultz all were part of the White Sox Double-A affiliate’s starting rotation.
Fast forward to October 2026, and this trio has become an integral part of the White Sox bullpen as they approach Game 1 of the American League Division Series against the Guardians on Saturday at Progressive Field. Smith, 23, starts Game 1, just as he did in Game 1 of the Wild Card sweep against the Astros.
But manager Will Venable said Friday that Smith and Taylor could see work in the first three games of this series with off-days built in on Sunday and Tuesday allowing the White Sox to push their best arms. Here’s another interesting twist for this group: All three could move back to starting again, with Smith and Schultz potentially returning next season.
“I'm just a pitcher,” Smith said during his interview room session on Friday. “Kind of at the point where just whatever I need to do, I'll do, and whatever will help the team win, I'll do.”
“That’s kind of the game nowadays,” Taylor said. “You are seeing more guys developing in the big leagues. I got called up last year and was able to go through different things, learn how to be successful. And teams are seeing opportunities to bring some guys up earlier and maybe in a different role.”
Smith opened his season as a starter for Triple-A Charlotte but moved to the bullpen on July 19 after missing more than a month with a left shoulder impingement. Schultz, 23, was mostly a starter for the Knights and the White Sox before moving to the bullpen after returning from a stint with the Knights on Sept. 16.
While Taylor, 24, has opened four games this season among his 60, he has emerged as one of the AL’s top closers. The hard-throwing right-hander set a career-high with 54 pitches in finishing off Tuesday’s victory.
For a staff who doesn’t have a set starting playoff rotation, aside from Smith in Game 1 and possibly Sean Burke in Game 2, it becomes a reliance on this top-notch bullpen crew and studying matchups. As Burke recently mentioned, they have 12 or 13 pitchers but no starters or relievers.
“Nothing different than what we’ve done before,” Venable said. “It’s just now really all of our starting pitchers, we may end up using in different ways.”
“As far as getting your feet wet in the big leagues, it’s great for them to put their stuff on display for short stints,” said veteran southpaw Sean Newcomb, who has pitched as both a starter and a reliever throughout his career. “We are in the playoffs, and they are for sure competing. It’s there to get the most out of them and it’s probably for the best as far as just figuring out who they are as big leaguers and that they can compete here.”
In that start against Houston, Smith threw three scoreless innings on two hits with one strikeout to shut down the Astros offense as the White Sox jumped out to an early lead before Smith handed the ball off to reliever Jordan Hicks.
The fifth overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Arkansas, Smith has flourished in his first MLB season after an Aug. 9 debut. Smith produced a 1.29 ERA with 41 strikeouts and 16 walks over 28 innings pitched and 18 regular-season appearances while starting once as an opener against Pittsburgh on Sept. 10. Smith faced the Guardians three times, allowing two earned runs on two hits across a combined 5 2/3 innings.
Schultz, Smith and Taylor make for interesting rotation choices in the not-too-distant future. But the White Sox can’t win without them against the Guardians or without success from their relief/hybrid roles.
“They are all very dialed in with their daily work and what they need to make themselves feel good and go out and compete,” Newcomb said. “They have special arms and they are big athletic guys, and it’s fun to watch.”
“Obviously. I want to go out there and do the best I can for the team and realizing it's just baseball,” Smith said. “Like go to the Houston outing. After that first pitch, I was pretty anxious to get out there and just kind of throw the pitch. And after that, it's like, ‘Oh, it's just baseball.’”