White Sox's Noah Schultz: Likely to debut Saturday

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White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski said Schultz (shoulder) is scheduled to pitch in his first game this spring Saturday, Scott Merkin of MLB.com reports.

Schultz will presumably pitch in a minor-league game rather than in the Cactus League, given that he has yet to make his debut in full-season ball. The White Sox have been proceeding cautiously with the 2022 first-round draft pick in spring training after he finished the 2023 season on the injured list at Single-A Kannapolis due to a left shoulder impingement. He also missed extensive time earlier last season due to a forearm strain, resulting in him logging just 27 total innings for Kannapolis. Zaleski noted that Schultz has been throwing in live batting practices up to this point in the spring and has sported a fastball that checks in at around 96-to-98 miles per hour, per Merkin. Though all seems well for Schultz on the health front and the expectation is that he'll open the season with Kannapolis or High-A Winston-Salem rather than sticking around at extended spring training, the White Sox plan to limit him to around 65 to 80 innings in 2024, according to Zaleski.