Draft: 2019 Position: RHP
Round: 26 Height/Weight: 5’11”/185
Pick: 772 Age: 24
Brendan White is an unranked prospect within the Detroit Tigers organization who was added to the 40-Man Roster and protected from the Rule-5 Draft by President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris during the 2022 MLB Winter Meetings.
White began his professional baseball career as a starting pitcher in High-A West Michigan before transition to the bullpen during the 2022 season with the Erie Seawolves.
As a player, White is a guy heavily focuses on analytics to help improve his game and pitch sequencing. During the 2020 season, before the COVID cancelation, White was able to get his one and only bullpen of the offseason in. Upon finishing the session, he immediately went to the analytics office and asked them to teach him what everything meant. Through his analytical approach, White has a heavy focus on VAA (Vertical Approach Angle). This allows him to look at his fastball does, specifically at the top of the zone, and how he can elevate it which allows for more swings-and-misses on his sliders later in counts.
With the help of VAA and tweaking his pitch sequences White has been able to progressively drop his BB/9 as well as increase his K/9 from 2019 to 2022.
Dark grey being BB/9 and light grey being K/9.
From this it is important to note that his K/BB has increased from 2.64 in 2019 to 4.29 in 2022. With the increased strikeout numbers White has also seen a significant decrease in WHIP from 1.55 (2019) to 0.91 (2022).
There is a high likelihood that White will find himself on the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens roster at the start of the 2023 campaign. It would also not be surprising if he found his way to Detroit sometime in the late summer thanks to the investment in young pitchers Scott Harris, via “earmarked innings,” intends for the 2023 season.