It has been a few years since I have been active on Facebook. My choice, nothing bad happened, I just like other social media sites better and feel they fit my profile better. When I was active on Facebook, I posted a poll for the “fans” and “friends” of my baseball page and asked this question – If you could get drafted by a Major League Baseball organization out of high school, would you do so? Or, would you elect to go to college, play summer collegiate somewhere, play a few years in college, then maybe revisit another opportunity to get drafted into the Major Leagues? The poll was very successful in numbers and comments and I was thrilled to read so many different opinions on the matter.

This question of “when…” made me think of two current “can’t miss” top pitching prospects – The Chicago White Sox LHP, Hagen Smith and the Miami Marlins LHP, Thomas White. Both Smith and White were 1st round selections by their respective parent clubs. Smith was the 5th pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. White was the 34th pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. According to MLB’s http://www.milb.com, Smith is ranked #2 prospect by position (Left Handed Pitcher). White is ranked #3 in the same category. Overall including all Pitchers and position players, Smith is the #34 ranked prospect in the entire Minor Leagues. White is #41. Both are projected to be on a Major League roster within the next year or two, the website claims both should be on an MLB roster by or around 2026. Hagen Smith will turn 22 in August, 2025. Thomas White will turn 21, but not until September, 2025.

Hagen Smith played and pitched for three seasons at the University of Arkansas, an SEC baseball powerhouse. According to the University of Arkansas baseball records and Baseball Reference, Smith pitched 20 games in 2022, 15 of them starts, went 7-2, and had an ERA of 4.66. His 2023 was even better – 18 games, 11 starts, 8-2 record, 3.64 ERA, and a Cape Cod League spot on the Orleans Firebirds. 2024 was his best campaign yet and a record setting one for the Leftie – 16 starts, 9-2 record, 2.34 ERA, a staggering 161 strikeouts, and a National Pitcher of the Year Award. As stated earlier, Smith was a 1st Round draft pick, the 5th overall pick, by the Chicago White Sox in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Thomas White was the best pitcher in New England, college or pros, for nearly his entire high school career in Massachusetts. Pitching for Phillips Academy, White made headlines from his first pitch to the last one he threw before starting his professional baseball career at the young age of 18. White was tall, threw hard, threw with command, had struck out numbers that were videogame like, and was an early commit to coveted Vanderbilt University on a full baseball scholarship. White was almost more fictitious than real sometimes, his stats were so gaudy, they didn’t seem real. According to his stats online, White finished his Junior year at Phillips going 6-1 with an ERA of 0.61. His senior year, White backed up his prospect status and went 5-2 with a 1.66 ERA and recorded 95 strikeouts in just about 42 innings pitched. White won Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year for his Junior and Senior Years. As stated earlier, White was a 1st Round draft pick, the 34th player selected overall, by the Miami Marlins.

Let’s see how the two are faring in pro ball. Hagen Smith went from the University of Arkansas to the Chicago Minor Leagues and pitched right away, meaning he got drafted in 2024 and pitched that summer. Same can be said for White with the Marlins in 2023, right out of high school and right into a minor league uniform pitching in a professional game. So both got drafted and pitched later that season professionally. Let’s check the stats for their first years in pro ball. Smith made 3 starts, 0-1 record, 7 inning worked, 7 strikeouts for the summer of 2024. White’s first pro summer – 3 games, 2 starts, 0-1 record, about 4 innings, 7 strikeouts. Sound familiar?

White made a huge jump in appearances and performance in 2024. Pitching for Single A and High A Miami Marlins minor league affiliates, the Massachusetts leftie appeared in 21 games, all starts, went a respectable 6-4 with a 2.81 ERA, and a whopping 120 strikeouts. White will pitch for the Miami Marlins Spring Breakout team this Spring Training. As will Hagen Smith, who will pitch for the Chicago White Sox entry into the Spring Breakout series. Both Smith and White are projected to stay in the minor leagues at this point, according to MLB and MILB writers on their respective websites. But it won’t be long before both will be called up and will be asked to make an impact on their big league clubs.

So, there you have the paths of two of the top LHP Pro Prospects in the Minor Leagues. Both are within a year of each other age wise, 21 (Smith) and 20 (White). Both are left handed power pitchers. One came from Texas (Hagen Smith) and the other from Massachusetts (Thomas White). One (Hagen Smith) went to an SEC baseball powerhouse, the University of Arkansas, pitched and played 3 seasons, played on the Cape, and gained national attention year after year with progressively dominating seasons, culminating in an NCAA National Pitcher of the Year award in 2024. One (Thomas White) played only high school, travel, and national USA Baseball games before signing a professional contract after his senior year in High School. White was the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year twice and probably could have beaten 95% of the New England college teams as a high school Junior, if given the chance to face them. Smith went to college, then signed. White skipped college and signed right away.

Who will make it to the pros first? Did it make a difference that Smith went to University of Arkansas and didn’t sign out of high school? Did his 3 years at Arkansas make him into a 1st Round draft pick? Will it make a difference that White didn’t go to Vanderbilt and elected to sign right out of high school? Both Pitchers seem to be heading in the right direction career wise. Two different paths, potentially the same result. So what would you do? How would you advise your baseball player who has the chance to go pro out of high school? Would you advise your player to sign or go to college? And why? Let me know your thoughts.