CHICAGO – Shane Smith had fun during his rookie season with the 2025 White Sox, for lack of a better word.
“I’ll tell you this, there’s nothing else I would rather do in my life, if that answers it,” the All-Star right-hander told MLB.com during a recent conversation. “I’ve lived and breathed baseball for a long time now, and I always had so much fun in whatever level I was at: High school, college, Low-A to the big leagues. I’ve always loved it.
“This past year just reaffirmed everything I felt. I had so much fun with the guys in that clubhouse. Traveling, being at home games and walking out to the bullpen with the starters. You spend so much time with the guys, you are laughing more than you ever thought you could. I had a ton of fun. A ton of fun.”
Enjoyment certainly is enhanced by success on the field. And during the better part of his debut Major League season, Smith was outstanding.
The 25-year-old finished with a 3.81 ERA over 29 starts, leading the team with 146 1/3 innings pitched and 145 strikeouts. His season ended on the highest of notes, with one run on six hits allowed over 11 combined innings during starts at the Yankees and at the Nationals, striking out 16 against four walks.
Smith flirted with a perfect game on the final day of the regular season, retiring the first 16 faced prior to Brady House’s one-out single to right in the sixth. He retired 18 of 19 Nationals hitters in total before his afternoon ended at 73 pitches.
“My mindset was really good going into the outings. Just a lot of confidence in what I was doing, and I just trusted what I was doing,” Smith said. “Mechanics cleaned up the best to what I was doing that year. Really loved how it’s moving, the way the ball is coming out of my hand.
“Just trusting your stuff. I have an insane amount of trust in what I’m doing and confidence in what I’m doing despite what the results might be. That’s how I’ve learned to manage this year in 2025. It’s good to ask questions like, ‘Hey, did I do this right?’ But not question your ability and your ability to get guys out.
“It felt like the perfect storm,” Smith added. “But I really, really want to start feeling that good early on. It sucks it took until the last two starts to get there.”
After posting a 2.37 ERA over his first 68 1/3 innings, Smith’s ERA rose to 4.25 overall when allowing 25 earned runs in his next 22 2/3 innings covering six starts. He finished the season strong with a 3.09 ERA over his last 10 trips to the mound, striking out 60 in 55 1/3 innings.
There were positive things Smith found, especially in those starts against the Yankees and Nationals following six runs allowed in 4 1/3 innings at home against the Orioles on Sept. 16. He wrote down those positive things so he can go back and remember.
“They felt repeatable, and that’s the biggest thing,” Smith said. “So, find some consistency in mechanics and find consistency in the ball release and hopefully find consistency in starts because that’s the name of the game.”
“He’s somebody who finds ways to be effective even when he doesn’t have his best stuff,” said White Sox manager Will Venable in September when commenting on Smith. “That’s just a young guy learning how to pitch and how to get outs.”
As the top pick from Milwaukee in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft, Smith didn’t even know if he would stay with the White Sox, let alone break camp from Spring Training in the rotation and excel for the bulk of his rookie campaign. He enters the 2026 season as the clubhouse favorite to start for the White Sox on Opening Day at the Brewers on March 26.
Not much will change with his approach, aside from now knowing people on the team and in the organization.
“Everybody wants to be the Opening Day starter. We are going to have a lot of guys fighting for that,” Smith said. “It’s not really something that’s, ‘Hey man, I want to do that.’ Everybody wants to do that.
“But using Spring Training to lock in your routine and mechanics and get a feel for what the baseball is doing, that’s just as important. All the things I want to refine in the offseason, whether it’s shapes or mechanics or whatever it is, I want to use that time in the spring to make sure I really nail it home before the season starts.”
