Former Oswego East High School and Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp pitcher Noah Schultz made his Major League Baseball debut with the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

The Aurora native took the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays, marking the latest step in a rapid rise from the Chicago suburbs to the major leagues.

Oswego East High School baseball head coach Brian Schaeffer coached Schultz throughout his high school career, beginning when Schultz played for him as a sophomore.

Schaeffer said Schultz stood out to him and his staff from the moment they first met him as a freshman.

“The obvious answer on what stood out most is just his size,” Schaeffer said. “He wasn’t 6-10 yet, but he was already about 6-4, tall and lanky with a lively arm. But what really stood out to me was how he went about his business at such a young age.”

Schaeffer described Schultz as a player who always led by example and consistently put in the work to improve.

“He was always supportive of his teammates, always working on his craft,” Schaeffer said. “What we really liked about him, though, was his willingness to talk with coaches about the game and how he could improve. He wasn’t afraid to ask questions and have conversations because he wanted to understand the game and get better.”

That commitment showed early. As a freshman playing up at the sophomore level, Schultz already flashed high-end ability.

“My assistant coach used to call him a Ferrari because of how rare he was,” Schaeffer said. “We all eventually knew he was a once-in-a-lifetime type of talent.”

As Schultz progressed through high school, his development accelerated, and his velocity continued to climb while he refined his secondary pitches, particularly his slider.

“That slider became one of the nastiest pitches I’ve ever seen at the high school level,” Schaeffer said.

Now, as Schultz reaches the bigs, Schaeffer said support from his former team and community remains strong.

Oswego East’s varsity team, along with former coaches, staff, friends and family, planned to attend his debut together.

For Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp owner and manager John Jakiemiec, it didn’t take long to realize Schultz was the real deal.

Jakiemiec had previously heard about the 6-foot-10 lefty through pitching coach Mark Sheehan, who had worked with Schultz since he was 12. By the time Schultz arrived in the Illinois Valley in the summer of 2022, he already held a scholarship offer from Vanderbilt and was drawing serious interest from Major League scouts.

The reason for that national attention became clear almost immediately for Jakiemiec.

“I remember the first game he threw for us like it was yesterday,” he said. “The opposing manager came up to me during batting practice and said, ‘You must have somebody special throwing today,’ because of all the scouts in the stands.”

Echoing Schaeffer’s sentiment, while Schultz’s stuff was obvious with an electric fastball-slider combination, Jakiemiec said what stood out most was his work ethic and character.

“He clearly has the baseball skills and mindset, but there’s so much more that goes into it,” Jakiemiec said. “He wasn’t always the guy and didn’t get all the attention growing up. He became the guy eventually, but it wasn’t just handed to him- he had to work for it and that showed when I got to know him.”

Jakiemiec believes that perspective helped shape Schultz’s professional ability both on and off the field.

Even while on a pitch count leading up to the MLB Draft that summer, Schultz would stay in the dugout with his teammates long after his outings ended.

“He would finish throwing, and two hours later he’s still in uniform, still with his teammates and signing autographs after the game,” Jakiemiec said. “He’d stay until the end of the game, take pictures with kids, do whatever was needed. That’s when we really knew the type of guy he is ... You’re not going to find anybody who has a negative thing to say about his character.”

Schultz went on to start six games for the Pistol Shrimp in 2022, going 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA, 37 Ks and seven walks in over 19 innings.

Later that summer, Schultz was selected by the White Sox with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

Now, four years later with his first start under his belt, the 22-year-old hurler has the chance to build on the moment that’s been years in the making.