Sunday Notes: ChiSox Prospect Hagen Smith Has a Killer Fastball/Slider Combo

Hagen Smith has a promising future on the South Side. Drafted fifth overall in 2024 out of the University of Arkansas, the 22-year-old left-hander in the Chicago White Sox system is No. 81 on The Board with a 50 FV. Currently making up lost innings in the Arizona Fall League — he missed six weeks this summer due to elbow soreness — Smith has been described by Eric Longenhagen as possessing “a killer fastball/slider combo.”

The erstwhile Razorback’s go-to breaker — a pitch our lead prospect analyst has assigned a 70 on the scouting scale — isn’t notable solely for its bat-missing attributes.

“No, not at all,” Smith replied when asked if his slider grip is fairly standard. “I actually don’t hold any laces on the ball. My first year of college — it was a start in Omaha — I was warming up in the outfield and just kind of tweaked the grip. That’s what it’s been since then. I really don’t know why it works as well as it does. I mean, it’s a good pitch metrically, but outside of that I guess it just plays well off of my heater. It comes out of the same tunnel, and it also helps that I can throw it slower or harder when I want to.”

How has Smith’s slider looked in the AFL?

“Comfortably plus at 82-86 mph,” Longenhagen told me a few days ago. ”The better ones tend to be the slower ones. He can backdoor his slider for strikes.”

As for the youngster’s four-seamer, Longenhagen has seen “93-96 with rise/run shape” in his recent looks. The southpaw offered his own thoughts on the offering when I talked to him following a recent outing.

“I knew coming into pro ball that I had a low approach angle, and that it helps my heater play up,” said Smith. “Metrically, there’s not necessarily a lot of carry, but it does have some. It also has arm-side run. Nothing crazy, though. It’s maybe 15 vert and 12 horizontal.”

Mastering a third pitch could be a difference-maker for the high-profile hurler, especially if his future is as a starter, and not as a late-inning reliever (a possibility that Longenhagen has raised). Smith tinkered with a slurve during the regular season, although a work-in-progress split-change may be the better bet going forward. Even so, he’s only thrown a smattering of them in Arizona, which was also the case during the regular season.

“I’m on the outside of the two seams with my ring finger on the side of the ball, so it’s kind of a splitter/changeup thing,” Smith explained. “It’s more of a changeup, but mentally I need to think splitter. I threw one tonight in the third inning. I did have an okay [changeup] in college, but I knew coming into pro ball that I needed something better.”

Improving his command is another step Smith needs to make if he hopes to approach his ceiling. His 3.57 ERA and 33.9% strikeout rate over 75-and-two-third frames in Double-A were positives, but his 17.6% walk rate was a bit of red flag. He’s working on that. According to Longenhagen, Smith’s command in the AFL “hasn’t been great, but it has been better than it was during the regular season when he was concerningly wild.”

Smith has thrown 12 innings in the AFL, allowing seven hits, six walks, and four runs. He has punched out 17 batters.

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Rusty Staub went 28 for 73 against Nelson Briles.

Nelson Cruz went 15 for 35 against Kendall Graveman.

Rocky Nelson went 15 for 30 against Lew Burdette.

Nelson “Chicken” Hawks went 7 for 11 against Flint Rhem.

Nellie Fox went 28 for 68 against Don Larsen.

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Nelly Taylor faced a number of quality arms this year while playing for the High-A Greenville Drive. Which of them most impressed the 22-year-old outfielder in the Boston Red Sox system?

“I can’t remember his name, but he was with Rome and threw a complete game against us,” replied Taylor, who is finishing up his season with the Arizona Fall League’s Salt River Rafters. “I know that he pitched in the Futures Game. It was weird, because he wasn’t throwing all that hard. It was 90-92 [mph], but it felt like 97-98 that day for some reason. His stuff was phenomenal, and he mixed it well and kept us off balance.

“I think it might have been a combination of his extension and the background,” Taylor said of the the righty’s perceived velocity. “There were white signs in the background that were playing into his arm slot, but the extension was there, too. His stuff definitely played up. He was really good.”

The pitcher in question would have been JR Ritchie. Drafted 35th overall in 2022 by the Atlanta Braves out of a Bainbridge Island, Washington high school, the 22-year-old right-hander threw a one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts against Greenville on May 10. Currently ranked the No. 7 seven prospect in the Atlanta system with a 45+ FV, Ritchie recorded a 2.64 ERA, a 3.84 FIP, and a 24.8% strikeout rate across three levels. He finished the year in Triple-A.

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A quiz:

Nolan Ryan became MLB’s all-time strikeout leader twice, first in 1983 and again 1984. Which pitchers held the records prior to Ryan’s breaking them?

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NEWS NOTES

The Los Angeles Angels have hired Mike Maddux as their new pitching coach. The 64-year-old Maddux, who served in that role with the Texas Rangers for each of the past two years, is new manager Kurt Suzuki’s first coaching hire. The club’s other coaching positions remain open.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired Bill Murphy as their new pitching coach. The 36-year-old Murphy has been with the Houston Astros organization since 2016, most recently as co-pitching coach at the big-league level along with Josh Miller.

The New York Mets have hired Rachael Folden to be the hitting coach for their Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The 37-year-old Folden has been with the Chicago Cubs organization since 2020, most recently as the hitting coach for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. She has also served as the organization’s minor league hitting coordinator.

Mickey McGuire, an infielder who played briefly for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1962 and 1967 seasons, died on October 19 at age 84. The Dayton, Ohio native notched four big-league hits, the first of them an RBI single off of Boston’s Sparky Lyle that drove home Luis Aparicio. McGuire later spent two seasons in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Bill Pleis, a left-hander who appeared in 190 games for the Minnesota Twins across the 1961-1966 seasons, died on October 17 at age 88. A St. Louis native, Pleis posted a record of 21-16, with 13 saves and a 4.07 ERA. He threw one mop-up inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1965 World Series, surrendering a gopher to Lou Johnson.

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The answer to the quiz is Walter Johnson and Steve Carlton. Ryan broke Johnson’s all-time record in April 1983, only to have Carlton finish that season with more career strikeouts. Ryan then surpassed Carlton during the 1984 season.

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I put together a handful of articles on pitcher game-prep this season, one featuring Kevin Gausman, Lucas Giolito, and Ryan Pepiot, and another with Nestor Cortes and Matt Blake. All four of the hurlers I spoke to are starters — Blake is a pitching coach — and their preparation differs quite a bit from that of relievers. I touched on that as well. My August 17 Sunday Notes column included Brent Suter’s description of his somewhat atypical routine.

Pete Fairbanks isn’t exactly a lone wolf with how he prepares, but the Tampa Bay Rays closer is very much his own man. The bullpen coach walks him through the first four hitters he’ll face when he comes into a game — “I have my little micro notes when I get to the mound” — but he’s mostly going to be pitching to his own strengths. Moreover, that approach extends to the conversations he has with his bullpen brethren.

“As relievers, we all kind of do what we do against hitters,” said Fairbanks, who has averaged 25 saves over the past three seasons. “The majority of stuff we talk about is how you attack guys — maybe it’s specific pitches — or it could be something more general, like how you’re able to impart force on the baseball. But everybody here does something different in terms of how they make the ball move, or whatever else it might be.

“I really don’t talk with a ton of pitchers, to be honest,” added Fairbanks. “I’m pretty far removed from everything, just given the nature of how I prepare and how I pitch. Most of my focus is on just doing what I do. My stuff is my stuff.”

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks defeated the Hanshin Tigers to capture this year’s Japan Series. Isami Nomura was the Game 5 hero, catapulting an 11th-inning home run in a 3-2 win on Thursday. Three innings earlier, his teammate, Yuki Yanagita, tied the contest with a two-run blast. SoftBank slugger Hotaka Yamakawa was named series MVP.

The LG Twins took the Korean Series, beating the Hanwha Eagles in their best-of-seven matchup. Erstwhile Toronto Blue Jays prospect Anders William Tolhurst was the winning pitcher in the clinching Game 5, while former Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Hyun Soo Kim went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

The Taiwan Series was also wrapped up in five games, with the Rakuten Monkeys beating the CTBC Brothers. Former Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds pitcher Brandon Leibrandt started for the champions in the clincher, which the Monkeys won 9-7 in 11 innings.

Hsu Jo-Hsi will reportedly be posted this winter. The 25-year-old (as of yesterday) Taiwanese right-hander had a 2.05 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 114 innings this season with the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Wei Chuan Dragons.

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A random obscure former player snapshot:

Mickey Klutts played bit roles on three powerhouse New York Yankees teams in the 1970s, then did the same for an Oakland Athletics squad that won an AL West title before losing to the Bombers in the 1981 ALCS. An infielder who appeared in just 199 games over his eight MLB seasons — his final year was spent with the Toronto Blue Jays — Klutts recorded 129 hits, with 14 of them leaving the yard.

He had a pair of two-homer games. One came on September 26, 1981 in a 5-1 Oakland win over the Chicago White Sox, the other on June 26, 1983 in a 19-7 Toronto win over the Seattle Mariners. His 1975 season with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs suggested that more games like that could be forthcoming. Then just 21 years old, Klutts slashed .319/.371/.551 with 24 home runs and was named co-MVP of the International League.

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FARM NOTES — ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE

Max Anderson leads all AFL hitters with a .486 batting average, and he also boasts a .648 OBP and a .919 SLG to go with four home runs in 54 plate appearances for the Scottsdale Scorpions. The 23-year-old infielder in the Detroit Tigers system had 19 dingers and a 135 wRC+ this year between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo.

Esmerlyn Valdez has an AFL-best eight home runs to go with a .419/.565/1.053 slash line in 62 plate appearances with the Salt River Rafters. The 21-year-old outfielder in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization had 20 home runs and a 156 wRC+ this year between High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona.

Aiden May has allowed five hits and three earned runs, with three walks and 12 strikeouts, over nine-and-two-thirds innings with the Mesa Solar Sox. Drafted 70th overall in 2024 out of Oregon State University, the 22-year-old right-hander in the Miami Marlins system had a 2.63 ERA over 27-and-a-third frames between the FCL and Low-A Jupiter after having the start of his season delayed by arthroscopic elbow surgery.

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Blake Butera being hired to manage the Washington Nationals earlier this week brought to mind a few of the conversations I’ve had with him over the years. The 33-year-old former Boston College Eagle had been working in player development for the Tampa Bay Rays, and back in December 2022 he told me about a then-19-year-old prospect who’d finished that season in Low-A.

“The bat is really exciting,” Butera said of Junior Caminero. “It’s a loud bat with a lot of power, but also with a really good feel for hit. He’s able to get the barrel on the ball. He also recognizes offspeed early, which is something that normally comes later on with development and experience… [He] is going to hit for power in the big leagues.”

Now 22 years old, Caminero is coming off of a first-full MLB season in which he homered 45 times and put up a 129 wRC+ while hitting in the middle of the Tampa Bay lineup. His strikeout rate was a more-than-acceptable 19.1%.

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

At CBC News, Diona Macalinga wrote about how the St. Catharines Blue Jays were the start of a dream for Carlos Delgado and other MLB stars.

MLB.com’s Matt Monagan introduced us to the Blue Jays bar at the end of the world.

MLB.com’s Michael Clair gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how the Dodgers became a hotbed for Japanese talent.

Tigers Minor League Report’s Chris Brown believes that Detroit has a pitching development problem.

The Athletic’s Sam Blum has been covering the trial of former Los Angeles Angels communications director Eric Kay, who is in federal prison for providing the fentanyl-laced pill that led to Tyler Skaggs’ death in 2019. A recent installment includes testimony from Kay’s ex-wife.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Max Scherzer’s 78 career hits include one home run. Then with the Washington Nationals, he went yard with two runners on board in the second inning of a game at Marlins Park on August 1, 2017. Chris O’Grady coughed up the gopher.

Tyler Glasnow has six career hits, half of them coming with the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 3-for-3 effort against the Atlanta Braves on May 23, 2017. Glasnow recorded those knocks against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.

Chief Bender and Jack Coombs combined to pitch 45-and-two-thirds innings as the Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs in five games to capture the 1910 World Series. The right-handers were the only two pitchers to take the mound for Connie Mack’s victorious side over the seven-day stretch.

The Detroit Tigers lost in each of the 1907, 1908, and 1909 World Series, falling twice to the Chicago Cubs and once to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ty Cobb slashed .350/.393/.486 across those regular seasons, but just .262/.314/.354 in the Fall Classic.

Pablo Sandoval slashed .426/.460/.702 in 50 World Series plate appearances.
Lance Berkman slashed .410/.520/.564 in 50 World Series plate appearances.

Hilldale Club captured the 1925 Negro Leagues World Series, winning five of six games against the Kansas City Monarchs in a best-of-nine series. Also known as the Darby Daisies — the team was based in Darby, Pennsylvania — Hilldale Club was led by Hall of Famers Biz Mackey and Judy Johnson.

The Atlanta Braves traded Henry Aaron to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for a PTBNL (Dave May) on today’s date in 1974. Aaron then played his final two seasons in Milwaukee, hitting 22 of 755 career home runs.

On today’s date in 1985, the Texas Rangers acquired Pete Incaviglia from the Montreal Expos in exchange for Jim Anderson and Bob Sebra. Incaviglia went on to make his MLB debut on April 8, 1986, having never played in the minors. The eighth-overall pick in the 1985 draft hit 124 home runs in five seasons with the Rangers, including 30 in his rookie campaign.

Players born on today’s date include Dutch Zwilling, who sandwiched two strong seasons with the Federal League’s Chicago Whales between a pair of brief stints with the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs. Zwinning put up a 141 wRC+ over 1,184 plate appearances as a Whale, while going a combined 22 for-140 with the AL and NL entities. He and Rollie Zeider are the only players to perform for all three Chicago clubs.

Also born on today’s date was Ron Reed, a 6-foot-6 right-hander who went 146-140 with a 3.46 ERA and 103 saves while pitching for four teams — primarily the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies — from 1966-1984. A two-sport athlete at the University of Notre Dame, Reed played two seasons for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and had a 30-point game against the Baltimore Bullets in 1966.