Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at top White Sox prospect Noah Schultz. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

Noah Schultz reigns as the jewel of a White Sox system built on left-handed pitching.

The South Siders’ keen eye for scouting and drafting southpaws can account for 11 of their top 30 prospects. This group includes four lefties who were drafted by the club, four players acquired in last week’s Garrett Crochet deal, a pair of prospects who can trace their path to Chicago’s system to the 2016 Chris Sale trade, and finally, Ky Bush, who was acquired from the Angels at last year’s Trade Deadline.

Schultz posted a 2.24 ERA with 115 punchouts in 88⅓ innings across two levels, finishing the season with Double-A Birmingham. The No. 1 overall southpaw prospect was one of only eight pitchers in the Minors to complete at least 80 innings and record at least 11 strikeouts per nine innings (11.72) while walking fewer than 2.45 batters per nine.

Given his size and an arsenal led by a fastball-slider combo, Schultz draws comparisons to Crochet and Sale, the White Sox first-round picks in 2020 and 2010 respectively. At 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds, he makes the most of his lanky frame, employing a deceptive, low three-quarters delivery. He also works exclusively out of the stretch from the third-base side of the rubber.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 16 overall prospect induces weak contact with his sinking mid-90s two-seamer while also throwing a four-seamer and cutter. His best offering is a 70-grade sweeping slider that produced a 36.3 percent whiff rate at Double-A. He rounds out his arsenal with a circle change that’s particularly effective against right-handers.

After an injury plagued 2023, Schultz navigated workload restrictions -- never throwing more than 67 pitches or four innings in any given outing -- to become one of the Minors’ most dominant pitchers. Perhaps just as important, he made all 23 of his scheduled starts with his only hiatus being an undeniably difficult appearance in the All-Star Futures Game.

“This year could not have gone much better for Noah,” White Sox director of player development Paul Janish told MLB.com in October. “The baseball side is pretty dang good, man. But fortifying him in a way that makes him even more able to endure a full season with the amount of innings we're going to ask him to throw is what that’s about. He's got his mind right.”

Born in Naperville, Illinois, Schultz attended Oswego East High School, about an hour away from Guaranteed Rate Field.

Schultz worked with pitching instructor Mark Sheehan at Evolution Athletics in Naperville throughout high school, figuring out a way to build a repeatable delivery as he managed his growth spurt.

The White Sox were impressed by a 16-year-old Schultz when he pitched for the local team in the Area Code Games. While many scouts viewed him as a future reliever, the Chicago brass saw front-end starter potential.

But Schultz missed most of his senior season in 2022 due to mononucleosis. He returned toward the end of the season but was not quite as sharp. So he insisted on pitching in a summer league to solidify his Draft value.

The White Sox kept tabs on Schultz as he dominated the Prospect League, a summer wood-bat circuit. He posted a 0.93 ERA over 19 1/3 innings with 37 strikeouts for the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp.

Schultz had a strong commitment to Vanderbilt and was ranked as the No. 49 prospect in the 2022 class. But the White Sox followed their instincts, selected Schultz with the No. 26 overall pick and signed him to a $2.8 million deal, which was slightly above that pick’s slot value.

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After signing, Schultz did not see any game action until the following June. A flexor strain and shoulder impingement limited him to just 10 starts, the longest of which lasted only four innings, before he was shut down in August. But he was still impressive in that short span with Single-A Kannapolis.

In 27 innings, Schultz posted a 1.33 ERA with 38 strikeouts while holding opposing batters to a .175 average.

Schultz opened the 2024 season with a scoreless 10-strikeout performance for High-A Winston-Salem. He made six more starts for the Dash and posted a 3.95 ERA with 42 punchouts in 27⅓ innings before he was promoted to Birmingham in May.

Over the rest of the season, Schultz emerged as one of the game’s best pitching prospects. His 1.48 ERA ranked fifth among hurlers with at least 50 innings at Double-A. He struck out 73 batters over 61 innings and held opposing batters to a .202 average.

For his efforts, Schultz was named the Southern League’s Pitching Prospect of the Year and a Double-A All-Star. He also started the Barons’ Game 1 victory in the Southern League championship, helping the club win its first league title since 2013.

After losing a record number of games last season, the Crochet trade was a boost to the club’s rebuild. Schultz leads a contingent of six White Sox ranked among MLB Pipeline’s top 59 overall prospects. As that group progresses toward the Majors, there should be brighter days on the South Side.