Chicago

White Sox

Smith is ostensibly up with Chicago as emergency long relief depth behind veteran starters Anthony Kay and Davis Martin for the remainder of their weekend against the Guardians after a mistake by manager Will Venable forced Noah Schultz to exit after just 23 pitches on Friday night. The 22-year-old southpaw was selected fifth overall in the 2024 MLB Draft and misses bats at an incredible rate, thanks to a wicked slider that comes at hitters from a three-quarters arm slot. He remains a project from a mechanics and arsenal development standpoint, which leaves some questions regarding his ultimate role. He misses enough bats to matter for fantasy purposes, whether he sticks as a starter or winds up in the bullpen down the road. His odds of making a significant fantasy impact right away are extremely long.

McDougal has made a significant leap from a development standpoint thanks to noticeably improved command and control over the last two years. The 23-year-old has compiled a strong 2.84 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 40/20 K/BB ratio across 34 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season. He gets the call to the big leagues as emergency relief depth behind veterans Anthony Kay and Davis Martin after a misstep by White Sox manager Will Venable forced the club into an unexpected bullpen game against the Guardians on Friday night. He’s unlikely to deliver an immediate fantasy impact, but he’s an interesting pitching prospect that needs to be monitored.

A high-profile misstep by manager Will Venable led to Schultz’s early exit after just 23 pitches on Friday evening. The 23-year-old top prospect has struggled to work deep into games since arriving in the big leagues back in mid-April, posting an inflated 6.06 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and 59/31 K/BB ratio across 65 1/3 innings of work. The talent is there for Schultz to make the leap to impact fantasy contributor status, but it’s highly unlikely to happen in the final two months based on his recent results.

Sandlin heads back to the minors after allowing six runs over 5 1/3 innings in relief during Friday’s game against the Guardians following Noah Schultz’s unexpectedly brief outing. The 25-year-old has surrendered 19 runs over 24 2/3 innings in the big leagues this season.

González loses his roster spot with Chicago needing to unexpectedly clear space for pitching prospect Hagen Smith. The 24-year-old was shipped to the minors back in early March and never made it back to the big leagues. He posted a 2.66 ERA and 25/12 K/BB ratio across 20 1/3 innings over 16 relief appearances as a rookie last year.

Noah Schultz and David Sandlin will both be sent down. This is more about having fresh arms available than anything to do with performance, but Smith and McDougal are among the team’s best prospects. Smith, the fifth overall pick in the 2024 draft, was moved to the bullpen at Triple-A Charlotte earlier this month and has since pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings in five appearances.

Montgomery’s solo homer in the second inning cut the Guardians’ lead to 2-1. It was the fourth homer of the season for Montgomery, whose last homer came on July 12th. He’s now hitting .236/.316/.701 on the season with four homers and 23 RBI.

Wiemer was released by the Nationals earlier in the week after flailing to a miserable .196/.277/.257 slash line over 166 plate appearances at Triple-A Rochester. He’ll add outfield depth for the White Sox and can continue to be ignored for fantasy purposes.

Not appearing to realize the consequences of his actions, manager Will Venable came out one batter after pitching coach Zach Bove did with the White Sox down 2-0 on the first. That means Schultz had to exit, and David Sandlin, who wasn’t previously warming up, entered the game. It’d be a bad look regardless, but this was pretty incredible timing for such a misstep, given that the White Sox used their entire bullpen in losing in 13 innings Thursday.

Sandlin has a 6.05 ERA in four appearances (three starts) with Chicago and a 2.17 ERA in 12 starts between High-A Winston-Salem and Triple-A Charlotte this year. He’ll likely work long relief in the bigs for the moment.