White Sox promote top prospect Noah Schultz after dominant Triple-A start

Noah Schultz made the call-up impossible to delay. The 22-year-old left-hander carved through Triple-A with Charlotte, going 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA, 19 strikeouts and only two walks in 14 innings, and the White Sox are expected to put him on the mound Tuesday against the Rays at Rate Field.

That line is the kind of dominance that changes a roster decision fast. Chicago had a rotation opening after Opening Day starter Shane Smith was optioned to Triple-A, and Schultz’s start to 2026 gave the club a clean answer. When a pitcher allows just four hits, misses bats at that rate and keeps the walks down, the question stops being whether he is ready and becomes whether the team can afford to keep waiting.

Schultz is no ordinary prospect. Chicago took him 26th overall in the 2022 draft out of Oswego East High School and signed him for about $2.8 million. He is listed around 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, a massive frame for a lefty whose calling card has long been the slider and a deceptive delivery from a low three-quarters arm slot. Baseball America has him as the White Sox’s top organizational prospect and on its 2026 Top 100 update, while MLB Pipeline has cited him at No. 46 overall.

The path to this point has not been smooth. Schultz missed time in 2025 with patellar tendinitis in his right knee, then struggled after a Triple-A promotion last season, posting a 9.37 ERA in five starts before getting shut down late. This spring told a different story. He finished offseason rehab, entered 2026 listed as fully healthy and looked every bit like a pitcher who had cleaned up the command and health questions that shadowed him a year ago.

White Sox manager Will Venable praised that progress. “I just know he’s continuing to pitch really well, which is awesome to see … As we continue to move this group forward, it’s going to take all those guys continuing to take steps forward in their development,” Venable said. Charlotte teammate Duncan Davitt was even blunter: “Oh, he's the man. He's awesome ... He's young, but he's wise and mature beyond his years and he's so fun to watch pitch. Just a nightmare for a hitter.”

Chicago is not stopping with Schultz. Sam Antonacci is also headed up after a scorching start at Triple-A, where he hit .317/.509/.997 with 41 at-bats across 12 games. The fifth-round pick from Coastal Carolina gives the White Sox another young, controllable bat with on-base skills and versatility, a useful add for an offense that needs help now.

For Schultz, though, the assignment is bigger than prospect hype. A strong debut would give the White Sox a left-handed starter with swing-and-miss stuff they can use right away, and it would signal that the organization believes his Triple-A start was not a tease. It was the moment Chicago could no longer ignore.