Ex-Brewers prospect will start on mound for White Sox on opening day

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Intriguing as he was as a pitching prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, Shane Smith would have been a long shot to appear on opening day at American Family Field in 2026.

And yet …

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A shift in circumstances made it happen; Smith was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Chicago White Sox last offseason and enjoyed a breakout 2025 that included a trip to the all-star game. And now he's been told he'll be the opening-day starter for the White Sox, who will kick off the 2026 season in Milwaukee on March 26.

How did Shane Smith do with the White Sox in 2025?

Smith became the second player selected in the Rule 5 draft to appear in the all-star game later that first season (along with Dan Uggla of the Marlins). After a rough patch in the middle of the season, he finished strong for a struggling organization, going 7-8 with a 3.81 ERA in 29 starts, with 145 strikeouts in 146 innings and a 1.20 WHIP.

Smith surged out of the gate last year, posting a 2.05 ERA over his first nine big-league starts.

Smith, who will turn 26 mere days after opening day, walked only 58 men over the course of the season.

How did he fare with the Brewers, and why did Milwaukee let him go?

Smith had a 3.05 ERA over the highest two levels of the Brewers minor-league organization in 2024, but the team declined to add him to the 40-man roster after the season, leaving him eligible to be taken in the Rule 5 draft. The White Sox took him No. 1 overall in the Rule 5 draft.

Milwaukee already needed to add Logan Henderson to the 40-man roster to likewise protect him from the Rule 5 draft, and they also chose to add Chad Patrick. Both became contributors in 2025 and figure prominently in the 2026 picture, as well.

Smith, meanwhile, developed a new changeup with the White Sox that aided his success.

How did Shane Smith end up with the Brewers in the first place?

Smith went undrafted out of Wake Forest after the 2021 season and signed a free-agent deal with the Brewers. He had served as closer for the Demon Deacons during the shortened 2020 season, then moved to the rotation in 2021, but a UCL injury cut his final year after just two starts, and he underwent Tommy John surgery. All told, he only made seven appearances in college between the two star-crossed seasons after redshirting in 2019.

Smith only appeared in three games in all of 2022 but hit the ground running in 2023, posting a 2.59 ERA at Class A Carolina over 19 appearances and then a 1.71 ERA with the Advanced Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers over 17 games. In 2024, he was with both AA Biloxi and AAA Nashville, earning the organization's minor-league pitcher of the month in 2024.

If a player is over 18 years old when he signs and in the minors for four seasons, as Smith was, he must be added to the 40-man roster or he's eligible to get taken in the Rule 5 Draft.

How does the Rule 5 Draft work?

The draft provides a mechanism that allows teams to find talent that hasn't been given a shot on the 40-man after a certain number of seasons in their first organization. It seldom produces success to Smith's level. Current Brewers Shane Drohan (by the White Sox) and Akil Baddoo (by the Tigers) were both selections in recent history.

Trevor Megill was selected by the Cubs in late 2019 but, as Brewers fans know, didn't find his footing as an all-star pitcher until he pitched elsewhere. In fact, Megill is the most recent player taken in the Rule 5 draft to make an all-star team before Smith.

Other eventual all-stars taken in the Rule 5 draft were Jordan Romano in 2018, eventual Brewer Nestor Cortes in 2017 and Anthony Santander in 2016, though among those players, only Santander was an all-star with the team that drafted him.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ex-Brewers prospect will start on mound for White Sox on opening day

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