CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 13: Chicago White Sox pitcher Shane Smith (64) delivers a pitch during an MLB … More game against the Boston Red Sox on April 13, 2025 at Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Major League Baseball is in a period of change with its rules, but the Rule 5 draft has been held every year since 1920. The White Sox used it last winter to make a significant addition, plucking right-hander Shane Smith from Milwaukee.

This draft allows teams with thinner major league rosters and farm systems to add talent from teams that can’t fit all of their big-leaguers and advanced prospects on a 40-man roster. It can be a blessing for talented minor-leaguers who are blocked by players who have sunk roots with their teams.

Just ask George Bell, Bobby Bonilla, Johan Santana, Mitch Williams, Josh Hamilton and Anthony Santander. Like the late Roberto Clemente and hundreds of others, they got their careers jump-started after being undervalued by their original organizations.

The price to claim a player is $100,000, which increased from $50,000 in 2017. The process requires that a Rule 5 pick stay in the major leagues for his first season in the new organization or be offered back to the original one for $50,000.

Smith, 25, is looking like a massive bargain for the thrifty White Sox. The first big-leaguer from the Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Mass., he had shoulder problems and Tommy John surgery while at Wake Forest, getting on the mound for only 10 1/3 innings in three years, and jumped at a chance to sign with the Brewers after going undrafted.

He was used strictly as a reliever in the Brewers’ farm system until last May. Smith was impressive enough in that role that the White Sox selected him with the first overall pick in the Rule 5 draft. He had such a strong spring training — once striking out Shohei Ohtani twice in an outing — the Sox selected him for their season-opening rotation.

Milwaukee likely regrets not having added Smith to their 40-man roster, as injuries prompted them to trade for a starter in April. The Brewers bypassed Smith to add starting pitchers Logan Henderson and Chad Patrick while leaving a spot open. They used that to select left-hander Connor Thomas from the Cardinals in the Rule 5 draft.

Credit Smith for jumping on the opportunity he was being given by the White Sox, who set a record with 121 losses in 2024. His timing couldn’t have been better as a newly constructed front office is looking to rebuild behind young pitchers after trading veterans Garrett Crochet, Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech and Erick Fedde over the previous two seasons.

Lots of players get chances, but Smith was being handed a good chance.

The Sox, who added Brian Bannister as senior advisor to pitching before the 2024 season, are prioritizing the development of pitching prospects. They shifted Rod Larson to a new role as director of pitching strategy last winter, and were well situated to help Smith succeed.

He connected with pitching coach Ethan Katz almost immediately after the Rule 5 draft in early December. The report on him from 2024 was he controlled a fastball in the 94-97 mph range and complemented it with two average breaking pitches, a slow curve (high 70s) and a mid-80s slider.

The White Sox worked with Smith to replace the curveball with a hard changeup (90.1 mph average) that has sharp sink and tailing action. It was essentially un-hittable in a start against Cleveland on April 8, when he took a no-hitter into the sixth. His first 10 changeups that day resulted in four whiffs, one foul and five outs.

In his first two starts, Smith allowed only four hits — all singles — in his 11 2/3 innings. Research by Codify shows he’s the first big-leaguer to work that many innings while allowing only four total bases at the start of his career since the White Sox’s Shovel Hodge in 1920.

Smith is scheduled to make his fourth start on Saturday in Boston, near his childhood home in Danvers. He’s compiled a 2.04 ERA over 17 2/3 innings, working into the sixth inning in all three starts. His heart is sure to be thumping when he walks out to the bullpen at Fenway Park.

Smith is allowing a .125 average on the new changeup and an .071 average on his slider, which he is throwing harder (88.4) than before. His fastball remains his primary pitch but he throws it only about 43 percent of the time, per Statcast.

He’s a work in progress, for sure, but the White Sox see a low-mileage arm with upside. Better yet, they control his rights through 2030. That’s quite a deal for a $100,000 investment.

You won’t find a bigger bargain on a major league roster. The White Sox were due a pleasant surprise, and they have one with Smith.