Following the recent major league baseball draft, Daniel Victor talked with several White Sox scouts regarding the team’s newly acquired talent. In the first version of this series, Dan discussed first rounder Hagen Smith.

White Sox 1st Rounder Hagen Smith

Position: LH SP
Age: 20
Signing Bonus: $8,000,000
Slot Value: $7,763,700
Signing Scout: Dan Budreika

From the White Sox Scout

“Hagen Smith possesses top-of-the-rotation upside. The stuff he did this year, the way he missed bats was historic,” said Budreika. For context, the Arkansas ace struck out 161 batters in only 84 innings this season. Smith’s 17.25 strikeouts per nine innings established a new NCAA, single-season, Division I record.

With the fifth pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, the Chicago White Sox select Hagen Smith, a left-handed pitcher from the University of Arkansas! pic.twitter.com/19vpUxw1z3
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) July 14, 2024

Ryan Wagner’s 16.79 had held the record since 2003. Perhaps more impressive about Smith’s feat is that he set this mark as a starting pitcher in the SEC which is widely regarded as the best collegiate baseball conference in the country. Wagner didn’t have to churn lineups while closing for the University of Houston in Conference USA.

Budreika describes the 6-3, 225-pound lefty as physical and super strong. He adds that the hurler pitches off a good controlled level of adrenaline. He heaps praise on Smith for his competitive fire while suggesting, “He can do some freakish things on the mound.” Looking at Smith’s arsenal, he pitches with a well above-average fastball. Budreika shares, “We have seen 100-mph from the left side; that will catch your eye.” He also throws from a “nasty angle, that makes it really hard to pick the ball up.”

Smith’s fastball typically sits comfortably at 95-96. He compliments this offering with a well above average slider. The scout describes Smith’s slider as a sharp downer with ferocious tilt. Budreika said if you caught a glimpse of Smith on the right day it would be easy to walk away with two 70’s on your scouting report. Baseball scouts grade player’s using a 20-80 scale with 50 representing an average tool. A 70-grade skill is described as having “double-plus” qualities.

Budreika points to a start that the White Sox first rounder made against Oregon State as a defining moment. Over six scoreless innings Smith threw 59 of 78 pitches for strikes while recording 17 of 18 outs via the whiff. Three of his punch outs were against Travis Bazzana who would go on to be the first player selected in the 2024 draft. Budreika stated, “He dominated one of the top bats in the country who ended up going 1-1 to Cleveland. As a scout, it’s hard to un-see that.” James Fox had notes from Mike Shirley on this performance as well in his 2024 White Sox draft recap.

The evaluator believes the sky is the limit for Smith but developmentally it will benefit the southpaw to further refine and utilize his changeup in professional ball. “His command is currently fringe-average; his strike throwing improved year over year, but with that type of arsenal, he has some room for error.”

A final thought that should have Sox fans salivating is that Budreika offered that Smith’s arm angle and deception evoke memories of prime Madison Bumgarner. It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the cutter utilized in some way. The White Sox have had success developing low slot lefties and under pitching advisor Brian Bannister, the cutter has enhanced the pitch mix for Garrett Crochet and Noah Schultz in particular.