Birmingham may have fallen two outs shy of a combined no-hitter in a playoff game, but the White Sox Double-A affiliate was nothing short of dominant behind Hagen Smith.
MLB's No. 87 prospect racked up 10 strikeouts across five hitless innings while issuing two walks Thursday for the Barons en route to a 4-0 victory over Chattanooga at AT&T Field. The victory forced a decisive Game 3 in their Southern League semifinal on Friday.
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On a humid night in southern Tennessee, Smith matched his career and season highs in punchouts. Chicago's No. 5 prospect notched double-digit strikeouts while logging four no-hit frames in his season debut for Birmingham on April 5.
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2024 Draft struck out the side in the second and fourth innings Thursday. He retired fellow Top 100 prospect Cam Collier (CIN No. 6/MLB No. 94) twice -- on a soft ground ball back to the mound in the first and a swinging strikeout in the fourth.
Barons reliever Tyler Davis yielded a one-out double to Edwin Arroyo (CIN No. 8) in the bottom of the ninth to lose the no-hit bid. But that knock only slowed the Birmingham win by one batter as Leo Balcazar (CIN No. 23) flew out to right field and Collier popped out to short to end the game.
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Smith worked his way back from an elbow injury that sidelined him in the spring. After reworking his mechanics, the Arkansas product returned to Double-A in late June and posted a 4.32 ERA and .182 average-against with 66 strikeouts in 50 innings.
"With Hagen, we forget this is his first full season, right?" White Sox director of player development Paul Janish said earlier this week. "So we learned a lot about Hagen. I think Hagen learned a lot about Hagen. He's finishing the year strongly. From a stuff and a health standpoint, his last two or three outings have been really good. Hopefully, we can carry that through the playoffs and then out to the [Arizona] Fall League. I think him being able to draw on that throughout the offseason and into next season will be significant for him and us."
Following the Southern League playoffs, Smith will join White Sox No. 2 prospect and fellow southpaw Noah Schultz in the Arizona Fall League early next month.