White Sox Rule 5 rookie surprise Shane Smith making strong case for All-Star nod

TORONTO — Shane Smith was hardly a lock to appear on an MLB roster anytime this season.

Soon he could lock down a spot on the American League All-Star team as the White Sox’ lone representative next month.

“I realize how easily I might not have been here, how easily this whole thing could have flipped on me,” Smith told the Sun-Times of the budding national attention he’s garnered in a hot start to the season.

“To say it'd be cool would be a huge understatement. But really, the other day puts everything in perspective of how poorly and how quickly a season can turn around.”

Smith was thinking of the six runs he gave up last week in 4 ⅓ innings against the Cardinals.

But the players and MLB officials who will vote to select pitchers for the July 15 All-Star Game in Atlanta are probably more focused on the 2.85 ERA he’s posted, leading all MLB rookies entering play Sunday.

“You don't forget about the good things you do, but the most recent memory gives you the most feeling,” Smith said. “I really want to put together a good outing, and then I can think about all the extra stuff later.”

The 25-year-old power righty is among general manager Chris Getz’ biggest finds so far as the Sox keep panning for talent in the depths of their organizational rebuild.

Getz plucked Smith from the Brewers organization in December’s Rule 5 draft, which is intended to discourage teams from hoarding big-league talent in the minors. Such picks are returned to their original organization if they’re removed from the active roster.

Smith — one of two Rule 5 picks on the team along with fellow Boston-area native pitcher Mike Vasil — isn’t going anywhere else anytime soon. He’s vying to become the second player ever to make the summer classic in the year after his selection in the Rule 5 draft, after former Marlins’ second baseman Dan Uggla in 2006.

Smith has gone 3-4 while giving up three earned runs or fewer in 13 of his 14 starts, notching 66 strikeouts and 30 walks. He’d be the first Sox rookie to make the All-Star team since José Abreu in 2014, and their first rookie pitcher ever to do so.

“If he happens to get that nod, what a really unique and cool moment for Shane Smith and the organization,” Getz said. “The starts at the beginning are truly just about getting comfortable and confident at the major league level, and good things are coming for him already. It's worth celebrating.”

Batters are only hitting .129 on the changeup he added to his arsenal in spring training to land a roster spot.

A cross-body delivery from the 6-foot-3, 240-lbs Smith makes that change look “pretty funky for a right-handed hitter, so while he’s going away, it’s also coming towards you,” said fellow Sox starter Davis Martin.

“It's just something that every lineup is probably going to have to circle as something they have to worry about. You see a slider at 90 mph, the fastball at 97-plus and the curveball at 83. So while you’re worried about that changeup, there's also three or four other plus pitches in the arsenal,” Martin said. “It's just a lot of stuff happening at once out there.”

None of those bullets would work without the right mindset on the mound.

“There's never too high or too low with him up there. It's always just staying the course,” Martin said. “And on the mound, he's just hungry. An undrafted guy, and he's trying to prove a point to everybody, every time he takes the mound.”

Consider Smith’s point taken.

”I'm not saying I expected it by any means, but I know that when I'm doing things the right way and I'm throwing as well as I can, I can do really good things,” Smith said. “And if an All-Star Game is what that brings me to, that's awesome.”