The White Sox intend to keep Shane Smith making scheduled starts for the remainder of the season while managing inning lengths and rest. Manager Will Venable said Smith benefited from an injured-list break and can continue starting, with occasional shorter outings or extra rest between starts as needed. Smith posted a 2.37 ERA in his first 13 starts, struggled to a 9.93 ERA over the next six outings, then returned to more normal-length starts (five, five and six innings) allowing six combined runs. The club views innings management as part of his long-term development as a building block.
We just move forward start by start with him. Having benefited from that break [while on the injured list following the All-Star break], he can continue to make his starts and we should be in an OK spot. We're just taking it start by start, and as things change - and rest in between starts might fluctuate - maybe it's a five-inning start and not pushing him in the sixth. But I think he's in a good spot to go ahead and make his starts for the rest of the year.
You know that every player's going to go through their ups and downs and that it's really about what it looks like when you get back on track and the process to do that. He's done a great job. He works extremely hard. The coaches talk about it all the time, his teammates talk about it all the time, that he's just a guy that's 100-percent dedicated to this and doing everything he can to be better. It's nice to see him succeed and then have tough spots and then go right back to being where he wants to be. The overall progression of his development this year has been great.
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