SEC Pitcher of the Year to the South Side ‼️ pic.twitter.com/12yuRY1tWa

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 14, 2024

With the fifth pick in the 2024 MLB draft, the team selected left-handed starter Hagen Smith out of the University of Arkansas.

Ranked as the top pitching prospect in the draft by MLB (and the No. 5 prospect overall), Smith was the SEC Pitcher of the Year. Being the best arm in the best baseball conference in the sport is no small thing.

Smith, 20, is coming off of his first pure starting season, as a Razorbacks junior. He went 9-2 over 16 starts and 84 innings for Arkansas in 2024, with a 2.04 ERA and 0.893 WHIP. He averaged nearly 5 1⁄3 innings per start, which makes sense given it being his first starting season. Another big plus for Smith is a rapidly-eroding ERA, falling from 4.66 to 3.64 to 2.04 over the course of his college career.

And his ability to miss bats — the one set of comments made by the MLB broadcasters before moving on to the next selection made dramatic mention of this — is stunning:

The 6´3´´, 225-pound Smith had 17.25 K/9 in 2024.

Yes, 17.25! If you have to ask, yes, that led Division I.

As a prep pitcher in Texas, Hagen threw seven no-hitters.

Yes, seven.

“Hagen’s many accomplishments are incredibly impressive and certainly speak for themselves,” said White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley, in a team press release. “Despite all of his success, I was struck most throughout the scouting process by his humility. We believe Hagen can be a foundational piece to what we are building in our organization in the years to come. We have something of a special history drafting and developing left-handed pitchers, and we envision Hagen being the latest in that line to deliver a powerful impact at the major league level.”

As @jnorris427 notes, the White Sox have a type.

After selecting Arkansas LHP Hagen Smith fifth overall this year, here are the previous four lefties drafted by Chicago in the first round:

Chris Sale, 2010
Carlos Rodon, 2014
Garrett Crochet, 2020
Noah Schultz, 2022

— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) July 14, 2024

Hagen Smith’s Baseball Cube Talent Ratings
Durability 100
Strikeouts 90
vs. Power 86
Hittable 86
K/BB 63
Walks 32

2024 Chicago White Sox Draft Picks
First Round (No. 5 overall) Hagen Smith, LSHP (ranked No. 5 on MLB Pipeline)

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