GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Noah Schultz is the White Sox No. 2 prospect, the No. 4 left-handed pitching prospect in the game and the No. 50 prospect overall, according to MLB Pipeline.

But the 6-foot-9 southpaw also is … a chef?

Well, maybe not quite chef level, but he has added cooking into his home routine in order to help overall development.

“Definitely taking care of my body more. Eating better. [I've gotten] into cooking more,” Schultz told a group of reporters Monday morning on the Minor League side of the White Sox complex at Camelback Ranch. “Recovery with my mind, baseball and everything. Just all-around becoming better so I can stay on the field this year.”

When asked for his 2024 expectations, Schultz talked about staying healthy, staying on the mound and becoming the best pitcher possible.

“Get better every day,” Schultz added.

The White Sox have that same plan in mind. The team’s top pick in the 2022 Draft was utterly dominant while pitching for Single-A Kannapolis in ‘23, striking out 38, walking six, allowing 17 hits and posting a 1.33 ERA over 10 starts (27 innings) before he was shut down after a start on Aug. 13 with a shoulder impingement.

With Schultz being just 20 years old and not having a huge innings base behind him coming into professional baseball, the White Sox will continue to move cautiously forward with their elite hurler. White Sox pitching coordinator Matt Zaleski put the target innings total at 65 to 80 for Schultz in ‘24, although he should start the current campaign with an affiliate and not stay back in Arizona.

“Right now, he’s doing live BPs. We have his first game going on the 16th,” Zaleski said. “Just a slow build up process, and kind of treat him more towards the Tommy John rehab. Shoot for 65 to 80 innings.”

“We hope to extend him, and be able to build up his workload. That’s the highest priority for us,” said general manager Chris Getz at Cactus League media day. “[He's] still a very young pitcher. Physically, he’s gotten a lot stronger. The stuff is, his pitch quality is elite. It really is, let alone it’s coming out of the hand from a 6-foot-9 lefty. Get him through a healthy season.”

Being attached to such lofty accolades has no bearing on Schultz’s work or existence. In fact, he pays very little attention to such talk because he truly loves to play the game.

Currently, he’s working on the sinker, slider and changeup, with the changeup garnering the highest focus. He’s confident in all of his pitches, getting a boost from his vast success at Kannapolis.

“There’s always things I can focus on,” Schultz said. “Always ways to get better every day, but I would say the specific things are command, staying healthy, location, a little bit of everything.”

Part of that everything, both on and off the field, is dealing with recovery from mound appearances. This list includes tracking sleep each night, knowing when to take supplements and planning advanced meals to help Schultz’s body feel 100 percent every day.

So what is Schultz’s go-to meal in this early stage of his culinary career?

“Steak and potatoes. Steak and rice. Steak and pasta,” Schultz said. “It’s healthy, easy to make and I know it helps me recover.

“Just get more calories. A little bit of everything, more calories, more potatoes. It’s enough to stay healthy, recover and gain positive weight.”

Schultz will be cooking for the White Sox in the not too distant future, and of course, the meal preparation will be the opposing hitters at that point. There are some who believe Schultz’s advanced skillset could play at the Major League level right now, but there’s no reason to rush such a special prospect at any step of his growth.

Clearly, the White Sox understand and appreciate what they could have in Schultz, with early comparisons being drawn to former White Sox ace Chris Sale and Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

“You look at the weapons he has, and I don’t think there’s an arm in baseball that has the potential of Noah Schultz,” Getz said. “We want to be as responsible as possible.”

“It’s a video game. It’s effortless,” Zaleski said. “He looks like he’s just going through the motions and not even trying and it’s coming out 96, 98 [mph]. He has two fantastic offspeed pitches. You sit back as a pitching guy and it’s like, ‘This is fun to watch.’”