Chicago White Sox GM Discusses Noah Schultz's Triple-A Debut, Potential MLB Promotion

CHICAGO –– Noah Schultz took the next step in the early stages of his professional career on Thursday.

The 6-foot-10 left-hander was promoted from Double-A Birmingham and made his Triple-A debut with the Charlotte Knights against the Gwinnett Stripers. The rebuilding White Sox have a lot riding on Schultz, their No. 1 prospect and first-round pick in 2022, and general manager Chris Getz said Monday they felt like Schultz was ready to move up a level.

Across 5.1 innings and 86 pitches, Schultz allowed eight hits, one home run and six earned runs while striking out five batters and walking one. He displayed a fastball and a sinker that both sat in the mid-to-upper 90s and accounted for three of his strikeouts. He also struck out two batters with a low-80s curveball.

"He had a pretty good outing. Gave up some runs, but you look at the strikeout-to-walk ratio and the type of contact that was hit, it was a quality outing," Getz said. "We felt he was ready for the next challenge. He pitched well. But to get a guy to go up to Triple-A, for someone that's still fairly young in his development, is a feather in the cap to Noah Schultz and, certainly, the organization. We're going to continue to pitch him at the Triple-A level, and we'll see how the season finishes."

The White Sox selected Schultz out of Oswego East High School in Oswego, Ill. Still just 21, he's worked his way up from Single-A to Triple-A, and made three spring training appearances with the White Sox this year.

To begin the 2025 season, he posted a 3.34 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP with 36 walks and 58 strikeouts across 12 starts and 56.2 innings in Double-A Birmingham. He spent a majority of the 2024 season in Birmingham, too, recording a 1.48 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP with 17 walks and 73 strikeouts in 16 starts and 61 innings.

Schultz has risen to the No. 13 overall prospect in the MLB Pipeline rankings, as well as No. 4 among pitchers and No. 1 among left-handed pitchers. The White Sox have used a major-league high 53 players this season, but Getz wasn't ready to commit to Schultz joining that list in 2025.

"Not sure. We're open to it," Getz said. "He'll let us know based on his performance and his strength throughout the remainder of the season. Obviously, he's such an important piece for the future here. I do think there is value in having young players come up here and get acclimated to the major league level. But first and foremost, we want him to get comfortable at Triple-A."

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