The White Sox sent right-hander Shane Smith to Triple-A, the team announced. Left-hander Tyler Schweitzer was promoted to the big-league club. To clear a 40-man roster spot for Schweitzer, outfielder Brooks Baldwin was moved to the 60-day IL. Baldwin recently underwent an internal brace procedure and is expected to miss the entire season.
Smith was knocked around for 10 earned runs over 8 2/3 innings across three outings to begin the season. He tossed 3 2/3 scoreless frames against the Orioles on Tuesday, but it was far from an effective outing. Smith walked five and threw just 57 of his 99 pitches for strikes. He was able to dance around the traffic on the bases with the help of eight strikeouts, but the erratic showing ultimately cost him his roster spot.
It’s a swift fall from grace for Smith. The former Rule 5 pick was one of the few success stories from a forgettable 2025 campaign. The righty broke camp with the team and hit the ground running, allowing three earned runs or less in 13 straight starts to open the season. Smith faded as the innings piled up, but finished the year with a solid 3.81 ERA with just under a strikeout per inning. The solid effort earned Smith an All-Star selection and the Opening Day nod for 2026.
Smith hasn’t been hit particularly hard during this difficult three-start run, but he’s struggled to consistently find the strike zone. The righty has now issued nine free passes following Tuesday’s five-walk performance. He had similar challenges in MLB Spring Training, walking nine over 10 2/3 innings. Smith has frequently fallen behind opposing hitters, posting a 51% first-pitch strike rate. That mark was 60.4% in 2025. Heading to the minors will give him a chance to iron out the control issues.
Schweitzer was selected in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. The lefty has steadily moved up the minor league ladder, reaching Triple-A by the end of last season. Schweitzer’s stint with Charlotte didn’t go so well (7.92 ERA over 50 IP), but he got off to a better start this year. The 25-year-old allowed just one earned run over five frames with the Knights before getting called up.
MLB Pipeline ranks Schweitzer at No. 23 among Chicago’s prospects. The southpaw boasts a mid-90s heater that reaches 98 mph, along with a changeup, slider, and curveball. MLB Pipeline’s scouting report identified the changeup as Schweitzer’s best pitch, given its movement and deception.
James Fegan of Sox Machine first reported Smith’s demotion. Elijah Evans of Just Baseball was first to report Schweitzer’s promotion.
Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images
Could he be a byproduct of not keeping Ethan Katz?
Katz only ever improved one pitcher every year. I think Shane is more of a by product of pitching director. He just needs a little time to fix his mechanics. A lot of the success stories last year seem like they tried really hard to meet expectations got thrown off in the process
Hes close to rediscovering his form. 8 ks against a tough Os lineup including a crucial punch out of Gunnar over a 12 pitch outing was crucial. Having some time to work on things should help get him right. At least he didn’t howl at the moon like Chtis Murphy after his dinger
leave it to the Birds to make a meh pitcher look like an TOR ace. Orioles need some iron for their offensive anemia.
Or maybe Burke is a tor type pitcher and the Os are meh
8K in 3.2IP is nice, he can reel in the walks, Id say Smith is momentarily riding high again and should be a very good trade chip at the deadline.
Smith will have big value if he can get it rolling and the White Sox are three years back from contending.
Shane isn’t a trade chip.
He is a good player and in that way, for a team that needs to add future value, a player like Smith, who gets it rolling, with his team control, offers the White Sox an opportunity to add prospects and opens up a spot in the rotation to develop one of the arms in AAA.
Make Smith a mainstay in the rotation, he will be a good 3/4, it isnt a loss in keeping him on the team but if you believe Oppor, Smith, Schultz, McDougal, Davitt can replace him in a year or two, a trade could make sense, all depends on the return.
If you believe the term “trade chip” is dehumanizing him as a person, I didnt intend in any way to put forth that association, I’d say that you did that TUD.
I was looking at the roster and used a term that highlighted his value in trade in an abstract way.
Trading players is an important aspect of remaining competitive while maintaining fiscal responsibility as a team interested in building a culture of responsibility and of positivity, both on the field and off the field.
Operating the team as an enterprise and keeping the team in the green is important if you see it the way I see it. The organization as a whole benefits, its not always all about the players on the field.
If a team is losing money, because they spend too much on players, they might tighten up in all the other areas and that has an effect on the organization and the fan experience.
As the current system stands, if players enjoy the freedoms that come with having free agency as a possibility during the prime of their careers, trading players as assets has to be part of the game. If you want to remove that aspect of managing a team, you are also cutting the cord on free agency.
Players could and should negotiate more freedoms in regards to having options to depart the team that drafted them if their isnt an opportunity for them.
Ryan Ward’s case is a situation to highlight. Ward was controlled for seven seasons (2020 included) on the minor league roster and is now controlled for an additional three seasons with team options and up to six more seasons on the active roster. 15 years of team control?
That is how I understand it. Im uncertain if I am correct but if the Dodgers were to option him in ’26, ’27 and ’28, add him to the active roster in ’29 with 0.0 years of service time, he would be paid in Pre-ARB until he accrued 3.0 years of service time and would get ARB1 in ’32, he would be a Free Agent in ’35, his age 36 season.
This is a player that has hit 30HRs / 100RBI and 10SBs overthe past three seasons in AAA. Griffin lands 140M with one season in A/A+ — Ward’s ’21 season in A ball was comparable so where is the disconnect?
Its a travesty, and there are others around the league.
Expansion is the best solution, rapid expansion. 40 teams. Salary floor based on team revenues in some sort. There wouldnt necessarily be any need for a salary cap. Big spenders can spend big, small markets manage differently, as long as the divisions are aligned in a way that give the small markets an opportunity to make the playoffs, its fair.
Once a team gets in the playoffs, they have a shot to win.
Players also need some sort of alternative protection beyond the Rule 5 draft becase teams arent using it. They are mostly making picks to keep up appearances. The Rule 5 draft was instituted to protect players like Ward but it isnt working.
At some point they have to stop trading players and simply go with the flow at the end of the day.
Seemed to do well against O’s. Pitchers struggle all the time at the beginning. Seems like it’s a confidence thing.
I hope he is not a clone of Phil Hummer, who briefly had success with the Sox, a number of years ago.
Vasil is the Humber clone castoff from the Mets
The White Sox are going to need another starting pitcher shortly with the optioning of Shane Smith. They have all three of their top SP prospects at AAA Charlotte and each are pitching well.
My best guess is that of those three, RHP Tanner McDougal will get the first opportunity since he’s the only one on their 40-man roster and is next scheduled to pitch this coming Saturday. The other two are southpaws Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith who also figure to make their MLB debuts at some point this season with continuing success on the mound and no health issues.
Noah Schultz has been the White Sox most dominant SP at AAA through his first two starts. He’s only allowed two hits and 1 run (a solo HR) through his first 9 IP’s with 10 SO’s and just 2 BB’s. Schultz is making his third start tonight and another strong outing could see him jump to the head of the class as Shane Smith’s replacement by next week.
Tanner McDougal has been nearly as stingy with only 4 hits and 2 runs allowed through his first nine frames but his 8 walks allowed are a concern. He has managed to pitch around them thus far with 11 SO’s but that likely won’t happen at the MLB level.
Hagen Smith’s early numbers might be the most noteworthy with 9 SO’s and just 1 walk through his first two starts. Command was a big issue for Smith last season so his low walk number is encouraging. That said, his first two starts have only seen him pitch 6 innings thus far. His next scheduled outing will be on Friday.
Schultz on the mound today against the Redbird’s AAA leading Memphis team. Another stellar outing and Schultz may get the callup to start at home vs Tampa next Tuesday, with the SOX perhaps using a bullpen game or spot start vs Royals over the weekend. That would lineup Schultz to face Rays, A’s, Nats, Angels in essentially Smith’s rotation spot.
Smith will likely return to bump whomever falters over that time, or perhaps the SOX make an early season trade to open a spot for him.
Aside from having their top three SP prospects at AAA, the White Sox might also have Drew Thorpe available for rotation duty later this summer as he continues his rehab from last April’s TJ surgery. Having Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, Tanner McDougal, Thorpe and Shane Smith all potentially in the rotation during the second half at least offers a glimmer of hope in comparison to its present state.
Hopefully the White Sox will be able to flip a current SP like Anthony Kay come the summer trade deadline in exchange for more potential core talent similar to what they did two years when acquiring Miguel Vargas in the Erick Fedde deal. Perhaps Fedde will pitch well enough over the next couple of months and offer the team another chance to reap some benefit.
The White Sox also have another big SP wild card in their deck come 2027…Grant Taylor. At his current rate, Taylor might actually lead all of MLB in games started in 2026 as the White Sox designated “opener”. 😂
Burke is pitching quite well & should be a mainstay this years as a 3/4 arm. And don’t forget reliable Dean Martin, that’s amore!
Davis btw. At least Burke has cut his walk rate at minimum.
At least Burke didn’t need Grant Taylor opening for him today. Baby steps.
Seems like an attempt to gain another year of control by keeping him down in the minors for a short spell.
Smith should be afforded a bigger leash given his performance last year.
Smith has had to go down since opening day, things aren’t right, his mechanics are off.
He hasn’t been able to locate a slider or change in any spring or regular season start in 2026. He only could locate the curve & FB yesterday, going deep in the count to every single batter (95 pitches to get 11 outs). Plus his FB lost significant velocity vs the O’s, falling from 96-97 in the early innings to 91-92 his last two innings.
If the White Sox primary concern is about team “control” then we may see none of their top 3 SP prospects get a promotion in the coming days and weeks. Considering the sad state of their current MLB rotation, now minus Shane Smith, that idea is even more frightening.
At some point soon, the White Sox need to begin prioritizing winning and worry less about keeping their MLB ready prospects down on the farm. Knowing that an impending change in ownership is on the horizon, to say nothing of what a new CBA may look like going forward, ought to lessen the need for repressing prospects and maybe encourage more winning going forward. 🙂
Have a feeling than Shane will have a short stint in AAA to work on his command at minimum.
Also Kay, Martin and Fedde has started the year not too badly considering the actual team ERA atm.
It’s not like they are contending. Let him skip a start to work with the pitching coaches, give him a few 4-inning starts to work on his mechanics in a stress free environment and bring him back.
They could even give him a week in Arizona at extended spring training if they felt the equipment there would help more than what they have at Charlotte.
This sounds correct for this lame organization. Opening day starter goes to the minors after three weeks. What a joke. Reinsdork is clueless. Poor coaching poor scouting and his boy wonder gm is lost!
If Smith stays down long enough, the team can get the benefit of an extra year of control without having to face accusations of manipulating service time. The demotion was obviously based on performance.