Detroit Tigers: What to Expect from Brendan White

The Detroit Tigers have called up reliever Brendan White

Brendan White’s status as a phantom ballplayer appears to be coming to an end.

The Detroit Tigers brought White up from Toledo to serve as the 27th man during their May 3rd doubleheader against the Mets. But White didn’t pitch in either game, and he’s been with the Mud Hens ever since.

Now he’s back in Detroit for real, having been summoned to bolster the Tigers bullpen in place of Garrett Hill.

The Tigers have announced the following roster moves:

*Following last night's game, optioned RHP Garrett Hill to Triple A Toledo
*Recalled RHP Brendan White from Triple A Toledo

— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) June 13, 2023

Today’s doubleheader means there’s a strong chance fans get to see White make his official MLB debut. He’ll be the fifth member of Detroit’s 2019 draft class to play in the bigs, joining Riley Greene, Ryan Kreidler, Kerry Carpenter, and Beau Brieske. So let’s take a look at what to expect from our 15th-ranked Detroit Tigers prospect.

Brendan White’s Background

Brendan White has a pretty cool story ($). He grew up in the picturesque lakeside community of Mahopec, New York, and then went to play baseball and study pre-med at Siena College near Albany (definitely not near Utica). White was an anchor of Siena’s rotation for three years, compiling a 3.93 ERA over 44 starts and nearly 250 innings.

But the MAAC isn’t a particularly strong baseball conference, and White was an undersized pitcher, so he lasted until the 26th round of the 2019 draft. He made 14 appearances in rookie ball after the draft, but then had to travel to Georgia to train during the COVID-shuttered 2020 season. White began the 2021 season as a reliever for High-A West Michigan, but then transitioned back into a starting role.

Though White was solid in the Whitecaps’ rotation, he was moved back to the bullpen with Double-A Erie in 2022. And that’s when he really started to excel. White posted a 2.67 ERA over 48 games and 67.1 innings with Erie, and he closed out the first playoff series win in SeaWolves history.

The Tigers added White to their 40-man roster last November, and he has been pitching to mixed results for the Toledo Mud Hens this year. He’s producing a career-high 29.3% strikeout rate, but his ERA stands at 4.78. Batters are hitting .333 against White, though part of that could just be horrendous luck, as his .466 BABIP is the highest in all of minor-league baseball.

Brendan White threw two perfect innings of relief last night for Toledo. Here they are. pic.twitter.com/mTnszcYWpG

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) April 23, 2023

Brendan White’s Stuff

Stories are great, but stuff gets you to the big leagues. And Brendan White has consistently improved his stuff for the last five years. With an uptempo delivery and a low-3/4 arm slot, White delivers five different pitches, though more than 80% of them are fastballs or sliders. His heater sits around 95 mph with above-average bore into the hands of right-handed hitters, and he can run it as high as 98.

White’s high-spin slider is his signature pitch, with above-average two-plane break and an average spin rate of more than 2,800 RPMs. His 87-mph cutter is a distant third offering for him in terms of usage, but early returns on the pitch are promising. Thanks to the tireless data collection of Jerry McKennan we can get a better look at how White’s pitches move and perform:

For all its movement and spin, White’s slider isn’t really a putaway pitch for him. But he does get a lot of called strikes because hitters tend to give up on it. White gets a good number of whiffs with his fastball, though, and the average exit velocity on both his four-seamer and his slider is about 88 mph. He throws plenty of strikes, and he peppers in enough of his cutter, sinker, and change to keep hitters off balance.

Based purely on movement, spin, and velocity, Brendan White’s stuff looks very similar to that of Padres reliever Steven Wilson. Wilson isn’t exactly a household name, but for the past two seasons he has been a very effective and reliable middle reliever. But of course, there’s a lot more to pitching than just raw data…

What’s Up with Brendan White’s Numbers?

That’s a good question, subheading. White’s stuff looks good and his strikeout rate is higher than ever. But, as we mentioned above, he currently sports a 4.78 ERA and a ghastly 1.72 WHIP. He has allowed 45 hits in 32.1 innings this year, which is already one more knock than he gave up in all of 2022.

Certainly some bad luck is involved, as his .466 BABIP suggests. And that’s probably exacerbated by the Mud Hens playing some questionable defenders on the infield.

But, as you might have suspected, the big culprit here seems to be location. When White locates his fastball inside to righties and his slider below the strike zone, hitters don’t do much of anything against him. He also gets a good number of whiffs when he elevates his fastball. But so far this year there have just been a few too many pitches in the heart of the zone.

The Verdict

Brendan White has the stuff to get big league hitters out on a consistent basis. But, like most young pitchers, he’s probably going to take some lumps while he refines his command and learns to make adjustments.

Chris Fetter and Juan Nieves (and now Robin Lund) have a pretty strong track record of maximizing their bullpen arms. We expect Brendan White to bounce back and forth between Detroit and Toledo this year, before ultimately settling in as a solid middle reliever over the next few seasons.

Here’s Brendan White’s full inning of work from this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/DT8Ru9DZsp

— Chris Brown (@ChrisBrown0914) March 11, 2023