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Tommy White's Contact Skills Stood Out in Debut Season with A's
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- Tommy White's Contact Skills Stood Out in Debut Season with A's
(Dennis Lee-Imagn Images)
When injuries began to pile up for the Athletics in July, they called upon corner infielder Tommy White to get an opportunity with the big-league team. The 23-year-old may not have been ready for his debut, but the A's roster needed him, so he was thrust into action.
Across 56 games with the A's in the second half of the season, White ended up batting .254 with a .272 OBP and a wRC+ of 57 (100 is league average). He was able to collect hits at a nice clip, but just eight of his 48 hits on the year went for extra bases. For a corner infielder, the expectation is that as he continues his development, those numbers will tick up.
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"Just trying to be an everyday guy," White said of what he's looking to work on going into the offseason. "Playing with that fire every single day. Staying on top of things in the training room. Things I've never really done in my career."
When young players come up to the big leagues for the first time, there is a lot of talk about them finding their own process or routine and settling into that before they feel comfortable. White said it took him maybe a month or two to find his, but now he has a set plan.
Tommy White on the Field
White's biggest moment of the season (apart from perhaps his MLB debut) was the game he had back home against the Tampa Bay Rays on September 16. He ended up going 3-for-4 with a home run, and said that his family had rented out a whole section and he could hear them cheering the whole time.
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"It was unbelievable," White said.
Two areas of his game that White excelled at were his strikeout percentage (17.9%) and his whiff rate (21.9%), both of which rated as well above league average.
His 69.3 mph bat speed ranked tied for 506th out of 619 batters with at least 25 swings. Right next to him on the leaderboard with the same bat speed was Darell Hernaiz, who has also had trouble collecting extra bases.
Alika Williams (69.1 mph) and Jeff McNeil (68.7 mph) are two more bats in that same range, while shortstop Jacob Wilson held the lowest mark on the club at 64.7 mph. There's nothing wrong with White's bat speed being in that group of players unless the expectation is that he'll have more 15-20 home run pop from year to year.
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His average exit velocity was also just 85.9 mph, nearly a full three miles per hour below league average (88.6 mph). The lack of consistent bat speed and low exit velocity certainly helped contribute to the lack of power numbers. That said, the power is still expected to come.
In the field White still has some work to do at first base, earning a -1 defensive runs saved grade and then a -3 in both outs above average and fielding run value. At third base, White was actually a plus defender according to DRS, holding a +2. He still came in a little below average with a -3 OAA and a -2 FRV.
The silver lining of the injuries this season is that players like White received legitimate playing time in the big leagues, which provided experience down the roster that otherwise wouldn't have been available. The A's roster is largely set in place with position players, and with Zack Gelof at third and a healthy Nick Kurtz at first base, White may get more seasoning in Triple-A when the season begins.
Even with the potential for a lockout beginning in December, White says he plans to prepare this offseason like there isn't going to be a lockout, which was a common sentiment around the A's clubhouse late in the year.
Before he starts ramping up, the plan is to do some fishing back home in Florida.
