It’s probably safe to say that Shane Smith is the real deal. The White Sox rookie starter, picked up from the Brewers in the Rule 5 draft last December, has checked just about all the boxes asked of him in his inaugural season, and then some.
The standout achievement was being named to the American League All-Star team in July, but Smith’s greater success has been weathering the natural ups and downs of a baseball season — highs and lows that tend to be more extreme in a rookie campaign — and adjusting along the way in order to put together an overall season stat line through the end of August that puts him among the better starting pitchers in the American League.
Key to doing that has been figuring out his strengths and not being shy about leaning into them. During a rough patch leading into the All-Star break in which Smith posted a 9.75 ERA in three July starts, he said he fell into the habit of pitching to avoid damage, rather than attacking hitters with his fastball, his best weapon.
“You see the lineups, and we’ve seen plenty of good lineups this year, but I think the only way you can combat them is trying to go through them,” Smith said. “I think once you try and dance around or not get hurt, that’s when you get hurt the most. So I just want to be as aggressive as possible.”
That adjustment has worked. In August, Smith has at 2.67 ERA — his best month since April — and he has pitched at least six innings in his last three starts. His outing against the Yankees on Saturday night typified what has made him successful in the last month.
Facing the dangerous Bronx lineup, Smith held New York to a pair of solo home runs in 6 1/3 innings of work, while striking out seven and walking just two batters, and it was his fastball that kept the Yankees at bay. Of the 97 pitches Smith threw Saturday, 65 were either a fourseam fastball or a sinker. That helped limit the Yankees to only three hits against him.
“He’s a power pitcher, you know? And I think he’s starting to learn himself and the catchers are starting to learn him better too. I think that’s just development, and he’s doing great,” catcher Kyle Teel said.
Though his upper 90s fastballs are Smith’s bread and butter, a part of his success this season has come from leaning into the rest of his repertoire when necessary. Smith has those two different fastballs, both of which come at hitters in the upper 90s, but he also has a quality offspeed pitch and two breaking pitches that he uses pretty evenly.
“He’s got a lot of different ways that he can beat you, different pitches that he can use in different ways,” manager Will Venable said. “His ability to command those, starting with the fastball is going to be a real key for him. So as different lineups respond to him differently, and he’s got to reinvent ways to get outs, just seeing that from start to start, especially where I remember reflecting on a start where he had done well and it was his changeup was really good, and the next start it was the curveball, and then the fastball.
“He’s done a nice job of just figuring out different ways, and that’s why he’s been able to be as successful as he has been.”
Smith is among a group of White Sox rookies who have debuted this season who look like they will be important parts of the team’s future, in 2026 and beyond. And though the wins are still not coming all that often in 2025, Venable thinks the growth of this young group is important for building something they can carry into the next season.
“Certainly we believe that we’re creating momentum throughout this summer and we have created momentum,” he said. “We want to finish the summer strong to take that into the offseason, knowing that that’s positive for an organization and everyone involved in it. Certainly these players that are here are gonna be part of the future, and making sure they finish strong and giving them the opportunity they need to help us make decisions in the future on these guys is important.”
July was particularly rough for Smith, and he had a bumpy June as well, posting a 5.60 ERA in four starts. But coming out of the All-Star break and returning to the mound in August, Smith has shown that he has the stuff to be a key part of the White Sox rotation in the future.
Smith will likely make at least a few more starts before this season is over, and like the team as a whole, he will be looking to finish strong and create some positive momentum going into his offseason and the 2026 campaign. His rookie year has already taught Smith some valuable lessons and given him opportunity to push through struggles and come out of them on the other side a better pitcher.
“If anybody’s going to beat me, it’s going to be me,” Smith said of the lessons he’s learned. “It’s kind of like how I was in that rough stretch. I was beating myself a little bit with not staying aggressive and not throwing pitches in the zone and not attacking hitters.
“But yea, definitely a learning curve. And, you know, I learned a whole bunch of stuff from that, but it’s just realizing my stuff is good enough.”
