Seen by some in the industry as a bit of a reach in the 2nd round in last year’s draft, White picked up right where he left off at Santa Clara missing bats and getting ground-balls. His large frame allows him to create excellent angle to the plate and the life on this fastball combined with the hard fork-ball he throws positions him to continuously show hitters the top half of the baseball. In his 22 innings pitched post draft last season, he struck out over 10 batters-per-nine innings while posting a 2.70 GO:AO rate. He started off hot this season, giving up only one hit over his first two starts and striking out 11. He has had a couple bumpy starts recently that have caused his ERA to balloon, but settled in on May 9th and carved up the San Jose lineup to the tune of one hit and eight strikeouts over four innings.

White sits in the low 90’s with the heater, but has an extra gear when needed, getting up to 96. His best pitch is the sinker, but the 12-to-6 curveball is average now, with a chance to be above average and the forkball is at a 55-grade, with a chance to get to plus. When he is around the zone and working ahead, he can be incredibly hard to square up. However, he tends to fall behind for stretches and create his own trouble — he then has to challenge hitters, and he sees the stuff flatten out up in the zone. He has yet to give up a bomb this year, which is an accomplishment in California and speaks to the quality of the stuff even when he isn’t locating. But the Cal League bats will heat up right along with the temperatures, and the ballparks will start to look small. White is on the right track with his 12.12 SO/9 and 2.23 GO:AO ratio over 26 innings this season, but his walk rate is almost 5.0 BB/9, a stat that will make him susceptible to crooked numbers and prevent him from going deep into games. White has the stuff to pitch deep and eventually fulfill that good number-four-starter potential if he can reign in the walks.