Although Noah Schultz was never the most consistent pitcher for the White Sox once they called him up, he at least showed flashes of greatness and provided a little length for a rotation that severely lacked it. When he had bad outings, a decent one usually followed.
After the All-Star break, though, Schultz dramatically fell off, and it soon became clear that keeping him around was detrimental to a team making an unexpected postseason push. The Sox did the only thing they could, which was to send him back to Triple-A Charlotte.
It turns out that trip back to the minors might have been exactly what Schultz needed. He made five starts with the Knights and couldn't have done much better. Over 21.2 innings, he accumulated a 1.66 ERA and struck out 10 batters. Although he also issued seven walks, they obviously didn't come around to score very much.
With the Sox going through a September swoon during a pennant race and desperate for fresh arms out of a taxed bullpen, the decision was made to give him another chance. As nice as it would have been to contribute to a rotation contributing the fewest innings of any other team, the Sox wisely decided not to throw him right back into the line of fire.
Sep 19, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox pitcher Noah Schultz (22) prepares to pitch against the Detroit Tigers during the seventh inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Noah Schultz made his return appearance on Sept. 16 and threw two perfect innings against the Cleveland Guardians . He followed that up in Saturday's win over the Detroit Tigers with 1.2 shutout innings, four strikeouts, and without walking anybody once again.
Obviously, two games won't properly say whether Schultz has rediscovered his form. But at the very least, it gives the Sox hope that their former top pitching prospect has definitely done just that. Given that they've lost control of the AL Central race at the moment and surely feel lucky to be holding onto the final wild-card spot, they need all the good news they can get.
It would be an incredible development for Schultz to bring much-needed consistency to the staff during the last week of the regular season. While he isn't going to bring the Sox into the playoffs by himself, he could be one of the differences between playing beyond a week from Sunday.
The hope is that Schultz will develop into the great pitcher he was projected to be. For now, though, a few scoreless innings at a time would do just fine.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/whitesox/onsi as Has Noah Schultz Remade Himself as a Reliable White Sox Reliever? .
