Since the White Sox are the worst team in the league, there hasn’t been much for White Sox fans to get excited about. However, there are plenty of developments in the minor leagues that should get White Sox fans excited.
The most recent development has come during the end of the year awards, where AA pitcher Noah Schultz was named the Southern League pitcher of the year by MLB Pipeline.
This is a very prestigious award, as the Southern League has some of the best talent in the minor leagues. For Schultz to be named the pitcher of the year as a 20 year old who didn’t even start the season in AA is quite impressive. Along with winning the pitcher of the year award, he was named a Southern League all-star, joining Edgar Quero, Brooks Baldwin, and Drew Thorpe as the other Birmingham representatives.
On the season Schultz was fantastic, as he had a 2.24 ERA over 88.1 innings. He added 115 strikeouts over those innings, while adding a stellar .98 WHIP. However, at AA specifically, he was even better. In 61 innings, he had a 1.48 ERA. He had 73 strikeouts, hitters only hit .202 off him, and had a 1.02 WHIP.
On top of those great statistics on the season, he was stellar in the Barons’ playoff run, as he was the starting pitcher when they clinched the championship. As a 20 year old in AA, that is quite impressive. On average, he was roughly three years younger than the average player in AA, so he is dominant when playing against prospects that have had a significant amount of more time in the minor leagues.
Since he recently turned 21, he will likely need some more time in the minor leagues, especially because he was on a strict pitch limit for each of his starts this season. I would like the White Sox to take the training wheels off him next season, as it will be crucial to his development.
If Schutlz starts the season off strong, don’t be surprised if you see Chris Getz be aggressive with a promotion to AAA, potentially prompting a late season promotion to the major leagues, similar to how they handled most of the AA rotation this year.
