White Sox Top Pitching Prospect Reflects On Injury-Filled Season

Noah Schultz missed over a month of action with knee tendinitis, and his third professional season later ended with another trip to the injured list.

But the injury affected more of the White Sox No. 1 pitching prospect’s season than that alone suggests.

“It’s kind of been something I’ve been dealing with all year,” Schultz said Thursday on Zoom. “It would have times where it would flare up and then go down.” 

Schultz credited the training staffs at Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte for helping him compete as often as he could. He returned from the injured list in late August to make two starts, and the team planned to have him pitch in the Arizona Fall League. 

But as the injury continued to affect him, they decided that in the long run it wasn’t worth playing through. Now feeling good, Schultz said, his focus shifts having a healthy and productive offseason.

“The knee is something that I'm confident it won't affect my offseason,” Schultz said. “It's something that we're doing [physical therapy] and stuff and it's getting a lot better. It's something that, you know, it's not gonna be an issue. It's something that I'm happy we got the right people taking care of it and getting ready for Spring Training.”

Schultz’s injury changed the calculus of the White Sox front office in a few ways. Senior advisor to pitching Brian Bannister said Friday in Chicago that Schultz had been battling it for a couple months, and that he wasn’t able to put full pressure on his front leg.

That led to a different type of landing on the mound, and Bannister believes it affected his consistency and changed the types of pitches Schultz was able to throw. The 6-foot-10 left-hander’s walk rate, in turn, jumped from 6.7% in 2024 to 13.7% in 2025 and caused frustration from an execution standpoint. He also tweaked the grip of his changeup and altered the usage rates of his fastball, cutter and slider.

Those factors make it tricky to fully evaluate Schultz’s season, the idea being that he’ll be a different pitcher in future seasons when healthy with an established arsenal. Bannister can relate to tendinitis from his time as a pitcher, an injury that doesn’t wipe away his confidence in Schultz’s long-term outlook.

“Ultimately, he just needed to give the knee a rest,” Bannister said. “We're going to get more of a load on that tendon and build it up. Tendinitis is extremely frustrating for a pitcher. I used to deal with it all the time in my elbow. It's something that takes a little rest, anti-inflammatories, building up a load on it and coming back stronger than before. I have full belief in the arsenal and the skill set. … Very optimistic for him going into next year after he's let it heal and really strengthened it."

“He's still young, he's still growing. He added more inches. He's an extra-tall pitcher. Sometimes, those extra-tall pitchers have slightly longer timelines as they're still growing, and they have longer limbs to deal with.”

Schultz began the season in Double-A and produced positive results, a 3.34 ERA in 56.2 innings, but he was tagged for 17 earned runs in 16.1 innings at Triple-A. Across 17 total starts at both levels, that equates to a 4.68 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP with 76 strikeouts and 45 walks in 73 innings.

“Lots of ups and downs,” Schultz said, reflecting on his season. “There are a lot of things you can look at it. But I definitely think there are a lot of good things that I was happy I had to work through. There were a lot of things, I don’t want to say were thrown at me, but a lot of things I was kind of adapting too. Just challenging myself every single week. That’s something, it was the plan, to learn and grow as a player.”

He highlighted his last start in Birmingham, a 5.2-inning shutout, as a performance that stands out in a positive sense, along with his five-inning shutout and first start in Charlotte. Schultz thinks piecing together what made each of those outings successful will help him become the best version of himself.

That may come later than the White Sox previously expected with Schultz, as well as the organization’s No. 2 pitching prospect Hagen Smith, who missed time with an injury and has not reached Triple-A yet.

“Truthfully, I was hoping that these guys would be ready to contribute [in the Major Leagues] right out of the gate next year,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “That might not be the case, based on how their seasons played out. But it doesn't change our assessment and the ceiling of the player.”

“Noah, the knee injury has been nagging, and to get that rested and rehabilitated is going to be important for his power, his command and his continuing development. I think we're going to look up and see those guys helping our Major League club fairly soon."

Schultz and the White Sox will hope to make the 2025 season look like a small obstacle on the road to a successful Major League career. 

That may begin a bit later than they planned for the 2022 first-round pick, but it remains the goal as Schultz looks ahead to Spring Training.

"I think that's always something that is in the back of your mind,” Schultz said. “That's always the end goal, is to be a Major League player. I think if you have that too much in your sights, you kind of get distracted from working out every day and getting better. I think it's something that every player kind of has in their mind, and that's always a goal of going into Spring Training, going into any part of the year. I think people always, and me personally, always think of that, but I think I try not to. I just want to go out and compete and become the best version of myself I can this offseason and in Spring Training."