Column: Rebuilds come and go, but Chicago White Sox fans still relish moments like Noah Schultz’s debut

Q: What was significant about Noah Schultz's debut for the Chicago White Sox?

Noah Schultz's debut is celebrated by fans as a highlight in the ongoing rebuild of the team, showcasing the potential of new talent.

Q: How do Chicago White Sox fans feel about the team's rebuilds?

Fans often feel a mix of nostalgia and hope, as they remember past moments while looking forward to the impact of new players like Schultz.

Q: Who are some notable players previously called up during the White Sox rebuilds?

Michael Kopech is one notable player who was called up to help kickstart the White Sox's rebuild efforts in recent years.

Q: What are the expectations for the Chicago White Sox in the 2020s?

Fans expected the White Sox to dominate the American League Central in the 2020s, driven by the development of young talent from their rebuilds.

(Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Sometimes these Chicago White Sox rebuilds seem to run together in your mind.

The best moments are the same, and only the names have changed.

It seemed like yesterday the Sox were calling up Michael Kopech to kickstart the rebuild that was supposed to see them owning the American League Central in the 2020s.

A hundred or so fans gathered in seats near the left-field bullpen to watch him warm up, taking selfies with the young phenom in the background. A large media contingent showed up at Guaranteed Rate Field to chronicle his every move, and Kopech felt like he was throwing inside a goldfish bowl.

“The pressure is from you guys,” Sox starter Carlos Rodón told me that night in 2018, chiding the local media. “Because you guys are the ones who are hyping it all up.”

I told Rodón that the Sox marketing department had hyped Kopech more than the media, hoping to boost attendance in the final weeks of another losing season. He was blaming the wrong guys for putting pressure on the kids.

“Yeah,” Rodón replied. “But isn’t that the organization’s job, right? They’re trying to build their brand.”

True, it’s all about the brand, naturally.

Some things never change.

Kopech’s rain-shortened debut came nearly eight years ago on the South Side, and it was a key moment in a rebuild that started paying off two years later, only to crash and burn in the summer of 2022.

Fast-forward to Tuesday at what’s now called The Rate, where Sox left-hander Noah Schultz made his major-league debut in another rebuild with an all-new cast of characters. He drew the same kind of pregame media crowd and I wandered out to the bullpen later to watch him warm up.

The crowds were just as enthusiastic on a warm spring night, though one fan who watched Kopech’s debut said there was one big difference between the rebuilds.

“We’ve gone through a lot of hard times since that one,” he said.

Sox fans were desperately hoping Schultz would be the next Chris Sale or Garrett Crochet, though they’d prefer he enjoyed the bulk of his career success on the South Side instead of being dealt to Boston for prospects to start another rebuild, like Sale and Crochet.

Tuesday was being referred to as Noah Schultz Day, and general manager Chris Getz called it a “big, big day for the White Sox,” pointing out that the 6-foot-10-inch Oswego native “obviously is a big part of our future.” For Getz’s sake, he’d better hope so.

In Year Three of Getz’s rebuild, the Sox look no better than they were last year, when they lost 102 games and had only one player with more than 63 RBI. That player was infielder Lenyn Sosa, who led the Sox in home runs (22) and RBI (75) in 2025 but was deemed so dispensible that Getz dealt him to Toronto on Monday, getting in return 18-year-old outfielder Jordan Rich, who was a 17th-round draft pick in ’25 and has yet to play a professional game, plus a player to be named later or cash.

Some would call it addition by subtraction since the Sox felt Sosa’s lack of a position wasn’t worth the potential power he could bring, even as a designated hitter. Getz indicated it was going to happen sooner or later, so he chose sooner.

“I think it’s more prioritizing the style of play that we want for our major-league club moving forward,” Getz said. “When you have (a Sam) Antonacci and a (William) Bergolla, even a Tanner Murray, players that offer more defensive versatility, the baserunning. We kind of knew the time was going to come and there was a team that was in need because of injury.”

Of course, we’re still waiting for the call-up of Antonacci, who was rumored to be coming up with Schultz. That turned out to be fake news, but the Sox do need a spark on offense, and Antonacci deserves his own day in the sun, so it should happen soon.

Sox fans are still waiting on Munetaka Murakami, the Japanese star whose slugging was going to make the fireworks budget increase exponentially, to start hitting with some regularity. Murakami had eight strikeouts in 12 at-bats against left-handers going into Tuesday, which was a bit worrisome considering he doesn’t platoon.

But it’s too early to panic about the Sox, even for Sox fans. Still, if things don’t improve soon, it’s going to put a damper on Pope Hat Day on Aug. 11, the most anticipated event of the season. These are made to resemble Pope Leo XIV’s miter, except with a Pale Hose logo in the middle. It’s an idea so brilliant that marketing guru Brooks Boyer expanded the special giveaway to include the entire ballpark after so many fans bought tickets just for a souvenir hat of the No. 1 Sox fan.

“The fans have spoken, and unlike some of our more limited quantity promotions, the White Sox Pope Hat is one we believe all fans should have the opportunity to take home,” Boyer said in a statement.

And whenever Sox fans speak, the organization listens … except when they’re telling Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the team.

I tried to convince the Sox to have a “South Side Hit Man” T-shirt giveaway featuring a cartoon of Pope Leo bashing President Donald Trump, guaranteeing a sellout. Unfortunately, my idea fell on deaf ears, so I’ll have to wait for someone’s bootleg version to be sold outside Wrigley on Waveland Avenue.

But Tuesday was Schultz’s night, and a chance for us to remember how psyched up Sox fans were for Kopech’s debut. Earlier that summer, Kopech quoted Winston Churchill on his social media account, writing, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

Now it’s Schultz’s chance to write his own history. And despite a rocky start on Tuesday, when he committed an error during a 3-run first inning, Schultz has a bright future ahead of him.

Time goes on and Sox fans grow older and learn how to deal with the pain of the regularly scheduled rebuilds, knowing these hard times won’t last forever.

But if Getz could get this one going a little faster, they’d be ever so grateful.