Evan White, Seattle Mariners.
Seattle Mariners, Evan White.
Coming into the 2020 season, Seattle Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto decided that this was the time to give one of the organization’s highly-touted young prospects a chance in the bigs. He signed first baseman Evan White to a six-year, $24M contract without ever seeing if he could hit Triple-A pitching let alone major leaguers.
The deal is designed to cover ALL of his arbitration years. This kind of move is eye-catching and recently it’s been a little bit more common. Philadelphia started the growing trend when they signed Scott Kingery to a six-year, $24M deal in 2018. Additionally, the White Sox signed their top two outfield prospects Eloy Jimenez (six-years, $43M) and Luis Robert (six-years, $50M). All three of them hadn’t yet played in the majors but they all had Triple-A experience.
The fact that White hadn’t played above Double-A but signed a major league deal is what made him different than the others. As an up and coming first base prospect, White showed tremendous promise in the minors. Through 2019, he hit a career .296 average with some pop. At Double-A Arkansas in 2019, he put up a slash line of .293/.350/.488/.838 with 18 home runs and 55 RBI.
While there was some question about his bat at higher levels, his slick fielding was Major League ready. Many experts believe White will win a few Gold Gloves during his career. That’s something the Seattle Mariners haven’t had at first base since John Olerud.
Last year M’s manager Scott Servais used converted outfielder Jay Bruce and designated hitters Edwin Encarnacion and Daniel Vogelbach at first base. Defense at the position was an issue that had to be addressed.
Watching the 24-year-old handle himself in the field shows Servais doesn’t have much to worry about in that department. White is not only an outstanding gloveman himself, he makes the rest of the infielders better.
Seattle Mariners, Evan White.
With the promise White showed in the minors, it wasn’t surprising that going into the spring, he was pegged as part of the team’s future. He should have started the season at Triple-A Tacoma with a shot at a late-season call-up.
In the meantime, Seattle would be forced to give playing time to one of their many reclamation projects or one of the ultra, super-utility guys until the kid was ready. This is 2020, there was not Triple-A. The Mariners decided to start White’s Major League career earlier than expected. That’s where the “rub” comes into play.
Rushing prospects up has been a common practice for the M’s. That and continual trading for prospects, but for this article, our focus is on the former. As mentioned, White showed he belonged defensively. Heck, he turned the rare and ever-impressive 5-3-5 double play! His fielding and glovework have been as good as or better than advertised.
How many times did he save runs by salvaging a bad throw from one of the infielders? Then there was his incredible range. The second baseman can play closer to the bag because White covers much more ground than the average first baseman.
That isn’t where the former Kentucky Wildcats star disappointed.
Seattle Mariners, Evan White.
At the plate, White, ahem, struggled this year. His numbers took a serious nose dive once he faced top tier pitching. He ended the 60-game season slashing .176/.252/.346/.599 with eight home runs, 26 RBI, and 84 strikeouts in 182 at-bats. Yikes! Striking out 46 percent of the time is not what the Mariners expected from him.
White’s struggles aren’t totally surprising considering he skipped Triple-A. His glove keeps him in the lineup, but the bat needs to come around. As with any rookie, White had his highs and lows at the dish, but the six RBI game highs were offset by way too many hitless game lows. He looked completely lost at times.
Is White the next prospect that’s ruined because the Seattle Mariners rushed him to the bigs? More than likely White is Seattle’s 2021 opening day first baseman. But with the 2020 feel-good story of Jose Marmolejos (what an awesome name, but not as good as Gift Ngoepe) probably on the roster, White will need to hit much better to keep Marmolejos in the DH role or on the bench.
Hopefully, White isn’t added to the long list of Mariners prospects that were rushed and not properly developed. My belief is that he gained valuable experience this year. White will come back next year much better equipped to face Major League pitchers.
Do you think the Seattle Mariners rushed Evan White to the Majors this year? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.