A detailed view of a Chicago White Sox hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the fourth inning at Truist Park in 2023. Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Chicago White Sox Top Prospect Earns Spotlight After Big 2024 Season

Originally posted on Fastball on SI | By Brady Farkas | Last updated Dec 19, 2024 2:20 PM ET

As we get ready to close the book on 2024, it's time to reflect a little bit. MLB.com and MLB Pipeline did that on Thursday, highlighting the accomplishments of some of the best minor league prospects in baseball.

For the Chicago White Sox, the spotlight was on left-hander Noah Schultz. The pitcher is ranked as the No. 16 prospect in baseball by MLB.com and is the second highest-rated pitcher in the prospect ranks.

He posted a fantastic 2.24 ERA for the year.

Schultz allowed four earned runs in four innings in his second start of '24, on April 13. He didn’t surrender more than two earned runs in a single outing for the remainder of the regular season, a stretch of 21 starts (five with High-A Winston-Salem, 16 with Double-A Birmingham). Mind you, the White Sox capped Schultz at four innings per start to get him through the whole season healthy, but he was still mighty effective with those guardrails in place, leading to the low ERA.

As another year nears its conclusion, take a look at the best prospect stats -- one from each organization -- in 2024: https://t.co/rsBcD0r1Vo pic.twitter.com/FWqJ3GMjF1
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) December 19, 2024

Schultz is predicted to make his major league debut this season by the outlet. If that's going to happen, there's no better place to be than in Chicago, where the White Sox are coming off the worst record in Modern-Era history at 41-121. After trading Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox two weeks ago, they have ample openings in their rotation for guys like Schultz to get in early and make an impact.

Chicago has six Top 100 prospects in baseball now per the latest rankings from MLB.com as well.

This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: