Alex White, RHP Colorado Rockies
8/29/1988
Height: 6’3″ Weight: 200
Alex White was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 14th round of the 2006 draft. They were unable to reach a contract agreement before White decided to head to North Carolina and become the Friday Night starter for the Tar Heels. Three years later, the Indians took White with the 15th selection in the draft making him a 1st rounder and giving him a $2.25mm deal.
White has been up and down with his fastball, and has battled some injuries and questions about him being able to remain a starter. That question is one that came from me as well. After White’s debut season, I saw him as a possible setup man because his fastball was much stronger in shorter stints. But he’s been able to make a believer out of me based on his 2010 season. A believer that, if he can stay healthy, he can remain a starter.
Alex White, RHP Colorado Rockies
We had White ranked in our top 50, taking the mid spot in our Top 100:
“50. Alex White SP CLE – White has a solid average FB to go along with a plus splitter that is his put away pitch. The addition of a previously abandoned slider has put him in the mix for a 2011 rotation spot. He’s a groundball pitcher with strikeout ability and a frame to eat some innings. #3 starter as soon as 2011.”
Let’s take a look at the arsenal and mechanics that drove our ranking:
The Stuff
White was primarily a 3 fastball pitcher when he was drafted. His 4 seam could reach the mid 90s in short stint, a 2 seam fastball with movement that also hit the mid 90s and his lone plus pitch was a splitter that was and still is his put-away pitch. That’s the main reason that I thought he would end up in the bullpen. His mechanics are a secondary reason.
But in 2010, White broke out the slider that made me like him so much coming out of High School at D.H. Conley in 2006. The slider, when paired with his fastball/splitter combination, gave him another weapon to keep hitters guessing. While it didn’t boost his K rates to elite levels, it did give this groundball pitcher the breaking ball he needed to remain a starter.
His fastball is enough to get by hitters, his slider is good enough to keep hitters guessing and his splitter makes him a very good groundball pitcher. With groundball rates above 55% his K rates of sub-20% fall in the acceptable range.
The Mechanics
Tony Lastoria over at http://www.indiansprospectinsider.com/ got some good video of White to break down his mechanics a little.
While White is far from mechanically perfect, he doesn’t throw with a lot of effort. He gets a good high leg kick, though instead of taking his weight and driving off of the back leg, he allows his lead leg to fall through the drive. It certainly puts more strain on his shoulder than is necessary. If he would drive off of the back leg and through the drive to home plate, not only would he lessen the strain on the shoulder, but also add a tick of velocity.
But as I mentioned, he isn’t max effort and he is predominantly a groundball pitcher. So his mechanics do work. As long as he can continue to develop the slider his mechanics should be good enough for him to at least remain a starter.
Our Instinct
Back in May, when White was called up to make spot start in the Indians rotation, I had this to say:
“White is being called up to take a turn in the rotation and replace Carlos Carrasco. White is ready to take over at the back end of the rotation but this may only be a one and done for the time being. White is only 23 and has so far handled AAA better than he did AA which wasn’t bad either.
Anyone with the misconception that White is going to be an anchor to a staff will be disappointed though. I expect low K numbers throughout his career and I don’t expect him to be at 200 innings for a season until 2013. Injuries have kept him from building up his in season innings count. Last seasons 106 innings were the most of his career. So the expectation of adding 30-40 innings to the workload per year puts him on pace for 2013. If the Rockies adhere to that, White should stay healthy and he should get to innings eater status.
Check back soon as we profile many more Top MLB Prospects and also get our baseball geek on and take a look at some of the later draft picks from the 2011 draft that we think could be big names on the prospect radars in the near future. Anyone can tell you that Mike Trout is going to be a stud now, but who told you that when he was drafted? Thanks for checking Baseball Instinct. We’re working hard to bring you the best of the minor leagues and make the site the best experience it can be. So don’t hesitate to tell us what you would like to read about. Email me now at Tom@baseballinstinct.com.
