There is exactly one baseball game truly worth watching today, and it isn’t from Spring Training. If nothing outside of tonight’s drool-worthy WBC semifinal matchup between the United States and the Dominican Republic is of interest to you, I wouldn’t be able to place any fault. Because from afar, there is exactly one thing and one thing only you need to take away from the Spring Training action that took place today, and it’s that Hagen Smith looks like he’s figured it out.
I cannot emphasize enough how much it does not matter that the White Sox (13-10-1) lost to the Royals (8-14). It doesn’t matter that Erick Fedde got shelled to the tune of seven hits and three earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. Fedde may be likely to open the year in the Sox rotation, but that likeliness remains true for exactly as long as it takes Getz to decide that one of Smith, Tanner McDougal or Noah Schultz is ready for the big leagues.
It does not matter that if it wasn’t clear that Rule 5 draft pick Alexander Alberto isn’t going to be this year’s version of Shane Smith, the four runs (two earned) in just an inning of work today ought to have all but punched his ticket back to Tampa Bay’s minor league system. He’s an intriguing prospect, for sure, but even for a team that hasn’t quite emerged from the devastation of a multi-year rebuild, there are just too many other pitchers who deserve a shot at the big league bullpen to justify rostering Alberto beyond Opening Day. Similarly, while the innings he soaked up last season are greatly appreciated, Brandon Eisert is close enough to the bullpen bubble that I simply am not terribly concerned about the four hits and three runs he gave up in his inning-and-a-third of work.
So, back to the point. There is exactly one takeaway from today, and it’s that Hagen Smith was absolutely filthy. He only threw two innings, but recorded five of those six outs via strikeout, with nothing but a single walk to blemish the final statline.
Between Jac Caglianone, J.J. Wetherholt, and current consensus top overall prospect Konor Griffin, the Sox passed up on a LOT of talent to take Hagen Smith with the fifth overall pick of the 2024 draft. I’m not going to make a sunk-cost argument that the Sox need to get plus value out of Smith for this entire experiment to work, but it’s pretty tough to wonder what might have happened if Riley Greene or C.J. Abrams had gotten the South Side pinstripes instead of Andrew Vaughn, and goodness knows we don’t want to have those conversations again. If the Sox see any success in the late 2020s, it’s probably going to be at least in some part because Hagen Smith turned into the bonafide top-of-the-rotation pitcher that we all hoped for as recently as a year ago. Amid a frustratingly inconsistent start to his pro career, this is the most promising step forward we’ve seen in quite some time.
What else happened in this game? The Royals scored a lot of runs, and the Sox scored few. On the bright side, Miguel Vargas’ absolutely torrid spring continued with two doubles and two walks. Edgar Quero was responsible for the first RBI of the game on a single, and was successful on all three of his pitch challenges from behind the plate.
The less bright side is that the Sox other runs came courtesy of Dustin Harris and Tanner Murray, two players unlikely to have much bearing on the future of the franchise.
Similarly, the large majority of Kansas City’s damage came off of bats that are unlikely to be much of a factor at Kauffman Stadium this season. Spring Training legend Brandon Drury hit a homer for the Royals, and we sincerely hope that he finds the regular season success this year that he may have been robbed of with the White Sox after an injury spoiled his white-hot March last year.
Outfielder Lane Thomas was responsible for a pair of ribeyes via a third inning sacrifice fly that got KC on the board, as well as a run-scoring single that gave them a 3-2 lead they’d never relinquish. Thomas is likely to play a substantial role on the Royals this year, but the same can’t be said for the sources of the rest of their runs, including a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double from up-and-down infielder Gavin Cross, a dinger from second baseman Peyton Wilson, and another smash in the late innings from backup catcher candidate Luca Tresh.
That was all she wrote for this one, as the Sox prepare to take the field against the Rangers tomorrow behind Sean Burke, who will face off with Texas’ top offseason acquisition in lefthander Mackenzie Gore. First pitch is at 7 p.m. CT in some rare March evening action, and we’ll see you there!