Thomas White is having an impressive first full professional season. Drafted 35th overall last year by the Miami Marlins out of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, the 19-year-old left-hander has a 2.84 ERA, a 2.99 FIP, and a 29.6% strikeout rate over 76 innings between Low-A Jupiter and High-A Beloit. His late-May promotion to the higher of those two levels came for a simple reason. As our lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen explained when assigning him a 45+ in early June, White’s stuff was simply too good for the Florida State League.
I had an opportunity to talk to the promising youngster when Beloit played at West Michigan earlier this week, and one of the things I made it a point to learn about was the mindset that augments his arsenal. I began by asking him how much of a role analytics are playing in his development.
“I’m starting to learn more about the actual numbers and how all that stuff works,” White told me. “At the end of the day, I like to just go out and get outs — I’ve never been a big tech guy — but I definitely know a lot more about my pitches now that I have access to all the data. So, I’m still learning, and I want to learn, but the best measurement for me is how hitters react to them.”
The pitches that hitters are reacting to include a four-seam fastball that has been averaging, according to White, 95.6 mph and 17.5 inches of vertical ride. He is also throwing a two-seam changeup and a sweeper-slider. Currently in the works, but not yet part of his repertoire, is “a shorter gyro pitch,” either a cutter or a hard slider.
Transitioning from a slurve to a sweeper has been a major developmental stride for the No. 4-rated player on our Marlins Top Prospects list.
“I didn’t throw [the slurve] very hard — it was 78-80 — so when I missed spots with it, it was getting hit around a little bit at the higher levels,” explained White. “We decided that we needed a little more velo and to have it hold its plane a little better. I’m also hiding it with my fastball better. With the slurve you could see a little bit of hump to it, whereas the sweeper goes straight and then goes right, right at the end. It’s actually the same grip as the slurve, I just kind of changed how my hand is oriented when I release the ball.”
The 6-foot-5 southpaw’s emerging knowledge of pitching analytics was in evidence when I asked about the metrics on his new-and-still-improving offering.
“I’m averaging around 82 mph with it,” said White. “With the technology we use to grade it out, it averages a 72 grade right now. When I throw it at 84 mph, it’s an 80-grade pitch. That’s why I’m trying to gain a little bit more velo on it. Movement-wise, it’s usually right around one to two — the lowest it will be is negative-three vert — and it averages probably 16-to-18 sideways. The most I’ve gotten sideways is 21 inches. That’s when it really turns into that sweeper thing. I actually try to release it like a slider, which is the funny thing. It just kind of takes off.”
Taking off is what White’s career has a chance to do if he can continue to fine-tune what is already an impressive arsenal. Of course, only time will tell if that happens. As Longenhagen insightfully stated, “He has impact starter upside and carries with him the risks typical of a volatile teenage pitching prospect.”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Mookie Betts is 6 for 6 against Brad Keller.
Luis Arraez is 7 for 9 against Kevin Gausman.
Rafael Devers is 8 for 9 against Dallas Keuchel.
Juan Soto is 8 for 12 against Charlie Morton.
Jose Altuve is 14 for 23 against Wade Miley.
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Left on the cutting-room floor from last month’s interview with Kansas City Royals right-hander Seth Lugo were his memories of standing in a batter’s box and how that influences his mindset on the mound.
“I talk to my catchers about this all the time, and to other pitchers as well,” the veteran hurler replied. “After I throw a pitch, I remember what it’s like to be in the box and see the spin, shape, [and] where it passed through the zone. I try to think like a hitter when I’m pitching.”
I asked the 34-year-old first-time All-Star if he could elaborate.
“What would you look for after this pitch?,” Lugo explained. “I mean, you can tell. A guy takes a swing and fouls it straight back; you can tell he just missed it. Or he takes, and turns around like, ‘Oh, I should have swung.’ You can see that. And you know that feeling as a hitter. It’s, ‘Dang, I hope he gives me that pitch again.’ You can make a pitch off of that.
“Hitters will think, ‘If he throws this pitch, I’m going to get him.’ Every hitter does that. The better hitters maybe don’t consciously think it, but they do. They know their one-spot. They get a fastball, or a sinker, they’re going to hammer it. If they see one and don’t swing, you know they’re mad at themselves. I’ve been in the box. I know the feeling.”
Lugo has nine hits in 58 big-league at-bats. He took Colorado’s Chris Rusin deep at Citi Field in 2017 as a member of the New York Mets.
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The Red Sox are hosting the Astros this weekend, and is often the case when a visiting manager meets with the media prior to a series at Fenway Park, Joe Espada was asked about the Green Monster. Minute Maid Park has atypical left field configurations of its own, so I followed up on another writer’s question by asking Espada how Boston’s wall compares to Houston’s.
“It’s longer,” he replied. “We have the high wall in Houston, but here it extends all the way to left-center field… There [also] aren’t as many tough corners where the ball hits and can go different ways. Once it hits the top of the wall, the ball kind of plays true… [In Houston] the ball hits and ricochets can go different ways. Here it’s not that much of a case.”
“Unless it hits off the ladder,” I responded, referring to one of Fenway Park’s most unique characteristics. Prior to the Monster Seats being installed in 2003, balls hit over the wall landed into a now-gone net, and members of the ground crew would later climb up to retrieve them.
“Unless it’s off the ladder,” echoed Espada. “Which is a very small ladder. And watch the ball hit the ladder today, because you said something about the ladder.”
No such luck. The ladder went unstruck.
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A quiz:
Who has the most batting titles among players who haven’t been elected to the Hall of Fame? (A hint: he won batting titles with more than one team.)
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
The Chicago White Sox RBI program won both the junior and senior divisions of the 2024 Nike RBI World Series, beating the Dominican Republic entry in the respective championship games. Sponsored by MLB, the RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) is designed to provide young people from underserved and diverse communities with the opportunity to play baseball and softball, encourage academic success and teach the value of teamwork.
Larry Gerlach, Leslie Heaphy, and Sarah Langs are SABR’s 2024 Henry Chadwick Award recipients. Established in 2009, the award honors the game’s great researchers — historians, statisticians, annalists, and archivists. Information on the recipients can be found here.
Billy Bean, who was serving as MLB’s Senior Vice President for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion, died earlier this week at age 60. The former Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres outfielder had been battling acute myeloid leukemia.
Doug Creek, a left-handed reliever who appeared in 279 games — 140 of them with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays — while playing for seven MLB teams from 1995-2005, died late last month at age 55. Creek also played in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers.
Gary Dotter, a left-handed pitcher who made seven relief appearances for the Minnesota Twins across the 1961-1964 seasons, died on July 27 at age 81. Nineteen years old when he made his MLB debut, Dotter had no wins, losses, or saves on his career ledger.
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The answer to the quiz is Bill Madlock, who won batting titles with the Chicago Cubs in 1975 and 1976, and with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1981 and 1983. A lifetime .305 hitter who finished with 2,008 hits and a 121 wRC+, Madlock received 4.5% of support in his lone year on the ballot.
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As of right now, who would get your National League Rookie of the Year vote? I asked that question in a Twitter poll on Friday night, the options being Shota Imanaga, Jackson Merrill, Paul Skenes, and Masyn Winn. Here is a snapshot of the quartet’s respective number:
Merrill: 118 hits, 17 home runs, 129 wWR+, 3.5 WAR.
Winn: 114 hits, nine home runs, 110 wRC+, 2.8 WAR.
Imanaga: 123.1 innings, 9-2 record, 3.06 ERA, 3.40 FIP, 2.8 WAR.
Skenes: 92 innings, 6-2 record, 2.25 ERA, 2.73 FIP, 2.6 WAR.
The player who would get my vote finished second in the poll, well in arrears of the winner. Skenes got a whopping 67.0.% of the votes cast, Merrill garnered 22.7%, Imanaga got 8.4%, and Winn received just 2.0%.
Skenes is the most electric of this year’s NL rookies and a must-watch every time he takes the mound. That said, Merrill has had the better overall campaign.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Roman Mejias went deep twice for the Houston Colt .45s in the first-ever MLB game played in the state of Texas, helping propel the expansion club to 11-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on April 10, 1962. The Cuban-born outfielder’s third-inning dinger was the first in franchise history — Hal Smith also left the yard for Houston that day — and he went on to finish the campaign with a team-leading 24 long balls. Mejias homered just 54 times over parts of nine big-league seasons, but he did have other memorable performances in the power department, including a three-home-run game for the Pittsburgh in 1958. Mejia was signed out of Cuba by Hall of Fame first baseman George Sisler, then a scout for Pittsburgh in 1953.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Tomoyuki Sugano is 11-2 with a 1.90 ERA in 109-and-two-thirds innings for the Yomiuri Giants. A six-time NPB All-Star, the 34-year-old right-hander has twice been the recipient of the Sawamura Award-winner (Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award).
Katsuki Azuma is 8-2 with a 1.84 ERA in 132 innings for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. The 28-year-old left-hander went 16-3 with a 1.98 ERA a year ago.
Albert Abreu is 1-5 with 17 saves and a 2.31 ERA over 38 appearances comprising 35 innings for the Seibu Lions. The erstwhile MLB reliever is in his first NPB season.
Sócrates Brito is slashing .297/.356/.511 with 22 home runs and 472 plate appearances for the KBO’s Kia Tigers. The 31-year-old former Arizona Diamondbacks and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder has played in South Korea for the past three seasons.
Victor Reyes is slashing .348/.391/.498 with 10 home runs in 448 plate appearances for the Lotte Giants. The former Detroit Tigers outfielder is in his first KBO season.
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The Boston Red Sox were involved in five of the 60 trades that were executed from July 25-30. Amid that flurry of activity, Craig Breslow was asked how the trade deadline compares to the winter meetings.
“Everything is just so condensed,” replied the first-year top executive, who was named the club’s Chief Baseball Officer back in October. “In some ways that’s great — you can really focus on this — but it’s obviously exhausting. This is often the most exciting period of the season for us outside of playing super-meaningful games toward the end of the season and the postseason. You keep your head, or your ear, on a swivel and try to stay engaged with as many people as you can. You wrestle with making difficult decisions, but ultimately have conviction and make them.”
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Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais shared an interesting thought on the eve of the trade deadline. In my opinion, it made a fair bit of sense.
“It’s a very anxious time,” said Servais. “The 10 days, two weeks leading up to it, all the rumors fly. Today, with the media, social media, it’s nonstop. And it really affects guys… There is so much uncertainty that goes on, the things that get thrown at them. Trade-deadline day should be an off day in the big leagues.”
Servais went on to say that deadline day can affect the roster — which players will and won’t be available — something that a manager has no control over. His suggestion is valid.
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FARM NOTES
Christian Moore was double-jumped from Low-A Inland Empire to Double-A Rocket City after going 6-for-11 with a pair of two-baggers and a home run in his first two professional games. Drafted eighth overall by the Los Angeles Angels out of the University of Tennessee, the 21-year-old second baseman has proceeded to go 13-for-24 with five home runs at the higher level.
JJ Wetherholt has started his professional career 8-for-30 with a pair of doubles and a home run for the Low-A Palm Beach Cardinals. The 21-year-old infielder was drafted seventh overall by the St. Louis Cardinals out of West Virginia University.
Charlie Szykowny is slashing .328/.400/.513 with five home runs and a 147 wRC+ in 310 plate appearances between Low-A San Jose and High-A Eugene. The 24-year-old third baseman was drafted in the ninth round last year by the San Francisco Giants out of the University of Illinois Chicago.
Michael Morales is 10-2 with a 3.13 ERA, a 3.45 FIP, and 115 strikeouts in 115 innings between High-A Everett and Double-A Arkansas. A third-round pick in 2021 out of Enola, Pennsylvania’s East Pennsboro High School, the 21-year-old right-hander is No. 16 on our Seattle Mariners Top Prospect list.
Jake Gatewood is slashing .304/.401/.639 with 27 home runs in 369 plate appearances for the independent Atlantic League’s York Revolution. Drafted 41st overall in 2014 by the Milwaukee Brewers, the 28-year-old infielder last played affiliated by ball with the Los Angeles Angels Triple-A affiliate in 2022.
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The Detroit Tigers acquired 22-year-old pitching prospect Joseph Montalvo from the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline, then assigned him to High-A Michigan. Addressing the deal this past Tuesday — one day before he took the mound for the first time with his new organization — Montalvo told Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, MLB.com’s Jason Beck, and yours truly, that he knows that baseball is a business. Much for that reason, he wasn’t entirely taken aback by what had transpired.
It being common for players to offer that sentiment, I had a question for Montalvo. While he knew that getting traded someday was always going to be a possibility, had he actually put more than a passing thought into its happening?
“I always had it in my mind,” Montalvo replied. “You never think that it’s going to happen. You’re never thinking, ‘I might get traded, I’m going to get traded,’ but if it happens, at least you’re ready mentally. At the end of the day, like I said, it’s still a business.”
Pragmatism aside, staying with one organization is something he would have embraced.
“That’s something, as a player, you always want,” said Montalvo, who was born in Puerto Rico and was drafted by the Rangers out of a Kissimmee, Florida high school in 2021. “You want to get to the big leagues with the team that signed you. If you ask any player, they’ll probably tell you the same. But I’m happy to be here. Hopefully one day I’ll be up there in Detroit and win a World Series. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Montalvo, whom Eric Longenhagen assigned a 40 FV last month, allowed two baserunners over three scoreless innings for West Michigan on Wednesday. He has a 2.32 ERA and a 3.95 FIP in 62 innings, all at High-A, on the season.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
The Score’s Travis Sawchik wrote about how the Baltimore Orioles got Jackson Holliday back on track.
Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes looked at 15 pitching prospects who possess elite individual pitches (subscription required).
Japan beat the United States 11-6 to capture its seventh straight Women’s Cup title. MLB.com’s Julia Kreuz reported from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
At South Side Sox, Brett Ballantini wrote about the White Sox’ once-in-a-century descent into a losing franchise.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
A Chicago White Sox pitcher hasn’t been credited with a save since July 10. The cellar-dwelling AL Central club has 17 saves on the season, the fewest in MLB. The St. Louis Cardinals have 41 saves, the most in MLB.
The Milwaukee Brewers are 34-12 in their last 46 games against the Cincinnati Reds.
Adley Rutschman is slashing .228/.309/.396 with nine home runs at home and .296/.354/.446 with eight home runs on the road.
Grady Sizemore hit his first MLB home run off of Zack Greinke.
Billy Bean had a team-best 124 hits for the Toledo Mud Hens in 1988, while Billy Beane had 85 hits. Both also saw action with the Detroit Tigers that season.
On today’s date in 1968, Gates Brown had walk-off hits in both ends of a doubleheader as the Tigers swept the Red Sox by scores of 5-4 and 6-5. Brown bashed a pinch-hit homer in the 14th inning of the opener, then capped a four-run ninth with a single in the nightcap.
On today’s date in 1970, Carl Taylor stroked a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam to give the St. Louis Cardinals an 11-10 win over the San Diego Padres. The home run was the last of 10 that Taylor — the stepbrother of Baltimore Orioles slugger Boog Powell — hit in his relatively-undistinguished career.
Players born on today’s date include Bubba Crosby, an outfielder who got a nine-game cameo with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003, then saw action in 196 games for the New York Yankees across the 2004-2006 seasons. Drafted 23rd overall by the Dodgers in 1998, the Rice University product was traded to New York along with Scott Proctor in exchange for Robin Ventura and went on to hit the first of his four big-league home runs in his first-ever plate appearance in pinstripes.
Also born on today’s date was George Canale, a first baseman who went 12-for-73 while playing in 44 games for the Milwaukee Brewers across the 1989-1991 seasons. He went deep against Dan Petry, Pascual Perez, Walt Terrell, and Greg Harris.
Bill Hornsby, the son of Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby, played in the minor leagues from 1946-1951. An outfielder in the Red Sox, White Sox, and Cubs organizations, Hornsby was with the Mattoon Indians, Superior Blues, and Hot Springs Bathers along the way.
