It had to be somebody …
On Sunday came the announcement that today’s starter, Shane Smith, was named to the 2025 AL All-Star squad.
MLB
This selection makes Smith the first rookie pitcher in White Sox history to be selected to an All-Star Team and the seventh overall White Sox rookie to be named an All-Star. Along with second baseman Dan Uggla (Florida Marlins, 2006), Smith has also become the second player and only pitcher in MLB history to be an All-Star following his Rule 5 selection.
Truly, it had to be somebody. Given Smith’s last four starts, all subpar and moving his average game score into the red (less than average for a starter), it would have seemed that if the AL was desperately needing a starter from the White Sox, Adrian Houser would have been the better pick. Sure, Smith has twice the starts of Houser, but it’s not as if relievers and players with less than three months of full-time work in the game don’t be picked.
But the true deserving player from the White Sox, given Smith’s slump, is reliever Steven Wilson: 1.5 WAR, 1.59 ERA, just 28 ⅓ innings but 30 appearances. This is BY FAR the best season of his short MLB career and is exactly the sort of story the All-Star Game needs to feature.
Smith started the year absolutely on fire, keeping his ERA better than 3.00 through his first 14 starts and most famously not allowing more than three earned runs in any of his first 13 starts. The game has caved in on him over his past two outings, which could well bring him up to the All-Star break (depending on whether the White Sox skip him this week in advance of his ASG duty): two starts, two losses, nine innings, 11.00 ERA, five walks, eight strikeouts. An argument could be made that Smith should be out of the rotation, not heading to the All-Star Game. The righty sits as 3-7 with a 4.20 ERA through Sunday’s action.
Still, it has been a miraculous season for Smith, who made his debut in the majors as a No. 1 overall Rule 5 pick from the Milwaukee Brewers and began the year as Chicago’s fifth starter.
White Sox fans can look forward to Smith possibly seeing some action in Atlanta next week, and either way the boost could well help re-set him for a stronger second half.