Chicago White Sox select Hagen Smith fifth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft
The Chicago White Sox have added to the future of their pitching staff.
The Sox drafted Akansas left-handed pitcher Hagen Smith with the fifth overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft on Sunday.
Smith was regarded as one of the best pitchers in the draft alongside Wake Forest's Chase Burns.
He earned 2024 SEC Pitcher of the Year honors after he recorded 11 quality starts and 11 double-digit strikeout games during the Razorbacks' 2024 season.
Smith had a 9-2 record, a 2.04 ERA and recorded 161 strikeouts across 84.0 innings pitching for the Hogs.
"Hagen’s many accomplishments are incredibly impressive and certainly speak for themselves," Mike Shirley, White Sox director of amateur scouting, said in a written statement. "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."
In his Arkansas career, Smith was a strikeout machine.
Against Oregon State in Februray, Smith struck out 17 Beavers batters. That OSU team boasted second baseman Travis Bazzana, who went No. 1 overall to the Baltimore Orioles.
He became the Hogs' all-time career strikeout leader by recording 260 strikeouts in his three seasons, passing former Arkansas pitcher Nick Schmidt's 345 career strikeouts from 2003 to 200. Smith also became the Razorbacks' single-season strikeout record holder with 161 K's this season. He passed David Walling's 155 strikeouts in 1999.
In his three years, Smith also lowered his ERA from 4.66 to 2.04.
That Arkansas career stemmed from a stellar prep career, where Smith tied a Texas prep baseball record with seven no-hitters as a senior in the 2021 season.
Smith is the first Arkansas player to get selected in the first round of the MLB Draft since OF Heston Kjerstad was taken second overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 2020.
The Athletic's senior baseball writer Keith Law wrote that Smith "has No. 2 starter upside if he can hold his stuff deeper into outings" who could also get to the major leagues quickly.
This bodes well for a Sox pitching staff that has MLB All-Star and league strikeout leader Garrett Crochet and has developed Drew Thorpe into the major leagues, with Noah Schultz on the way, too.
"He has a strong 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame built for durability and could become a frontline starter if he continues to harness his stuff," MLB.com wrote in his prospect profile.
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