Mariners first baseman Evan White is healthy and even hit a home run in Monday’s spring action. But Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports that the team wants him to get everyday action in Triple-A Tacoma to start the season.
That’s fairly logical given that injuries have held back the former top prospect in recent seasons. In November of 2019, he and the club agreed to a six-year contract with three club options before White had even cracked the majors. He finally made his debut in 2020 but struggled, striking out in 41.6% of his plate appearances. The two subsequent seasons were marred by various injuries, including hip surgery and sports hernia surgery, with White only getting into 62 total games between the majors and minors.
With so much missed time and still having options, some regular playing time in the minors could help White get back on track. There’s also the matter of Ty France having taken over as the club’s regular first baseman.
“I said to our coaches, ‘I believe at some point this year, Evan White will help us,’” Mariners manager Scott Servais said to Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “He’s going to impact us. Certainly, Ty France has first base locked down right now. But things happen. Things happen throughout the course of the year. But [White] just needs to go play baseball, put himself kind of back on the map again — and the only way he can do that is to be available.”
In 2019, White played 92 games in Double-A and hit 18 home runs. His .293/.350/.488 batting line was good for a 132 wRC+, indicating he was 32% better than the league average hitter. If he can get back into that form, that would be a nice depth piece for the M’s to have.
Some other notes from around the league.
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