Hagen Smith was my favorite pitching prospect in the 2024 draft, and I believed him to be the best pitcher in the 2024 draft class over Chase Burns who was selected over him. Following his fifth overall selection by the White Sox, Chicago sent him straight to High-A Winston Salem where he only threw seven innings over three appearances. However, he had one of the crazier stat lines at the college level in 2024. Smith was un-hittable in the SEC where he won conference pitcher of the year as well as national pitcher of the year. Smith draws some comparisons to his co-top left handed pitching prospect, Noah Schultz. While Smith doesn’t quite stand in at 6’9”, he has a starter’s build with a deceptive delivery from a lower arm slot. His fastball has reached 100 mph while his slider has induced an elite amount of whiffs. He needs to develop at least one more secondary to have a shot at being a big league ace, but certainly has the talent and upside at the moment to climb Chicago’s system pretty fast.