NEW YORK — Chalk it up to growing pains this season for top White Sox pitching prospect Noah Schultz, figuratively and literally.
The 6-10, 240-pound lefty had a tough go of it after making the jump from Double-A Birmingham to Triple-A Charlotte, where he posted an ugly 9.37 ERA in five starts.
Schultz, a 22-year-old Oswego East High School product, labored while still filling into his lengthy frame, which didn’t help matters with the nagging knee injury that prematurely ended his third year in the minors.
And he’d go through it all over again if it better prepares him to become a rotation stalwart, as general manager Chris Getz needs him to do for the organization to turn a corner in a rebuild clunking to the end of a third consecutive 100-loss season.
“It was really important even for me to get through some of that stuff,” Schultz said while reflecting on his injury-hampered campaign during a virtual conference with reporters Thursday.
“Lots of ups and downs. There are a lot of things you can look at, but I definitely think there are a lot of good things that I was happy I had to work through,” he said, pointing to the changeup and cutter he refined in his repertoire. “It was the plan, to learn and grow as a player.”
The plan was looking good out of the gate as the Sox’ 2022 first-round draft pick owned Double-A hitters in 12 starts, going 4-3 with a 3.34 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 56⅔ innings.
The hiccups started when the Sox bumped him up to Charlotte in mid-June, when he gave up 15 runs in his first three starts. Then the Sox shut him down for more than a month with a case of patellar tendinitis in the right knee, on which he lands.
Schultz looked a little better in a pair of short starts last month, but they shut him down and canceled plans to send him to the Arizona Fall League when the knee started barking again.
“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 continued development,” Getz said.
Schultz might have been on a path to get a quick taste of big-league action this season if not for his summer struggles. Sox pitching director Brian Bannister said last week that Schultz had “never really been able to put full pressure on that front leg” in the second half.
“He’s still young, he’s still growing. I mean, he added more inches. He’s an extra-tall pitcher, so I think sometimes those extra-tall pitchers just have slightly longer timelines,” Bannister said. “I have full belief in the arsenal and the skill set So we’re just very optimistic for him going into next year after he’s let it heal and then really strengthened it.”
The front office will be banking on his MLB-ready knee at some point next season, the sooner the better for a rotation without any names written in ink after Shane Smith and Davis Martin.
As he rests and undergoes physical training in the western suburbs, Schultz said he’s keeping his mind off making the team out of spring training: “I just want to go out and compete and become the best version of myself I can this offseason and in spring training.”
While die-hard fans have been scrutinizing his minor-league box scores for three years now, Schultz’s phone has been blowing up more consistently as he inches closer to the majors, with well wishes pouring in from people who remember watching the lanky hurler play at Oswego.
“After the season, coming home, it was something that a couple times, out and about I’d see some people with Sox stuff. I know a couple people recognized me and talked to me about it,” Schultz said. “You play for the fans, and Chicago White Sox fans, they’re awesome. It’s something that [makes me] excited to go out and perform.”