CHICAGO -- Imagine the following 2025 White Sox rotation.

Garrett Crochet at the top, with his '24 move from the bullpen quickly turning him into baseball’s most dominant starter and strikeout leader. The southpaw is followed by Erick Fedde, who has one year remaining on a two-year, $15 million deal.

• Get to know Hagen Smith

Don’t forget Noah Schultz, the No. 2 White Sox prospect and No. 18 overall according to MLB Pipeline, who pitched in the All-Star Futures Game on Saturday. The list also includes No. 3 prospect Drew Thorpe and Jonathan Cannon, who are part of the White Sox rotation, and No. 8 prospect Nick Nastrini, who has pitched in the Majors this season.

Let’s now add in Hagen Smith, the left-handed pitcher out of Arkansas who was taken No. 5 overall by the White Sox in the first round of the 2024 Draft on Sunday night. That’s right, even at 20 years old, the Bullard, Texas, product could be big-league ready as soon as next season.

Chicago also drafted shortstop Caleb Bonemer out of Okemos High School in Michigan with the 43rd pick (Round 2) and left-hander Blake Larson out of IMG Academy (Fla.) with the 68th pick (Competitive Balance Round B).

• This dominant college ace is 'pretty boring,' and that's a good thing

“I feel like I was one of the better pitchers in the Draft going into it. I feel like I've put in a lot of work to be that way,” Smith said via Zoom on Sunday night. “Just having that opportunity to maybe do that would be awesome. You never know what's going to happen, what the organization wants me to do. But I definitely feel like I can do that in the near future."

“Obviously, you want to be delicate,” White Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley said via Zoom. “You want to make sure you build them up, you want to make sure the long-term play and health, and overall, make sure they’re Major League-ready. But the weapons, the arsenal, is real. These guys, most importantly, they’re elite athletes with elite stuff.”

Smith is a power pitcher, adding to the southpaw lineage of that same ilk drafted in the first round by the White Sox. That prestigious line includes Crochet (11th overall in the 2020 Draft), Schultz (26th, 2022), Carlos Rodón (third, 2014) and of course, Chris Sale (13th, 2010). Smith struck out 161 over 84 innings to go with a 9-2 record and 2.04 ERA in 16 starts as a junior.

Seventeen of those strikeouts came over six innings against Oregon State on Feb. 23, with Smith needing a mere 78 pitches to record such an impressive total.

“That was a really crazy game,” Smith said. “It's hard to remember, because in the moment, you're just kind of locked into the game, so you don't really realize what's actually happening. I didn't realize until I got pulled from the game that I had that many strikeouts, and I was like, 'What in the world?' I was just kind of shocked after that.

"Everything was kind of working that day. Mainly, I was just throwing fastballs and sliders, and I just kind of got in the groove so much, I started throwing changeups randomly. I really didn't even need to, I just kind of felt like throwing it against them."

Over three seasons (2022-24) with the Razorbacks, Smith finished 24-6 with a 3.40 ERA, four saves and 360 strikeouts (13.9 K's per nine innings) over 233 frames in 54 games (42 starts). Much of the mock draft White Sox projections at No. 5 centered on elite position players such as Jac Caglianone or Konnor Griffin.

So even Smith was somewhat surprised by the White Sox selection. A pleasant surprise for the southpaw, who was one of six realistic candidates at No. 5, according to Shirley.

“Honestly, I was kind of in shock,” said Smith, who talked to the White Sox three weeks ago in Omaha, Neb. “You dream about it growing up.

“Especially in college, that's the goal, to be drafted in the first round, for a bunch of my friends and I. Just hearing my name be called was kind of surreal, honestly."

The White Sox allotted Draft bonus pool sits at $14,593,300 in total, with $7,763,700 at No. 5. As for that 2025 fantasy White Sox starting rotation … let’s change the parameters and assume Fedde and/or Crochet are traded by the July 30 Deadline. Those are the sorts of tough deals often happening in the midst of a rebuild, potentially bringing back numerous impact prospects.

Other young starters such as Jake Eder (No. 10 White Sox prospect), Ky Bush (No. 16) and Mason Adams (No. 18) are ready to step up. But Smith just might push himself to the top of that list.

“You guys know these guys that take the mound in that starting rotation is a key and integral part of building a championship club,” Shirley said. “We are starting to make a move into that process.

“Real pieces that are going to make a difference for the White Sox. We couldn’t be more excited having Hagen Smith into this organization. And most importantly, the human, the competitiveness and the stuff to make a difference for the White Sox.”