One thing pitchers must be willing to do to reach the next level in their progression is evolve.
For former West Marion standout Colby White, who is a prospect in the Tampa Rays farm system, that has been the name of the game since being drafted in the sixth round of the MLB Draft June 4, 2019. He has gone from throwing nothing but his blazing fastball to having a three-pitch mix.
The 6-foot, 190-pound flamethrower had just one offer coming out of high school — Pearl River Community College — but he excelled in his two years with the Wildcats and signed to play at his dream school at Mississippi State. His star continued to rise with the Bulldogs, and he was able to leave after just one season and move on to pro ball.
It’s commonplace for fans to get caught up with stats, especially when it comes to prospects they don’t get to see play, because it’s usually the only way for them to project what the player could be in the major leagues. What isn’t considered, though, is when players are instructed to go against their strengths in games in an effort to develop their weaknesses. That’s what White went through during his brief 15-game run with the Hudson Valley (N.Y.) Renegades.
White, 21, primarily relied on his fastball throughout his high school and collegiate careers because he could throw by batters. During his lone season with the Bulldogs, he often sat between 94 and 96 mph and reached 98 on the radar gun. But when he got to the minor leagues, the coaching staff wanted him to work on his off-speed offerings.
“They would tell me if I’m going to throw 20 pitches in a game, 12 of them better be breaking balls,” he explained in his old high school dugout last week. “They would say that and hitters would understand, ‘Hey, he’s trying to work on his breaking ball,’ and they would sit on that. But that’s how you get pitches better.
“If they know you’re throwing it and it’s not a good breaking ball, they’re going to hit a long ways. If they know you’re throwing it and it’s pretty good, they’re probably going to put it in play. If it’s a great breaking ball, you’re probably still going to get a swing and miss.”
White said while he’s not quite where he or the Rays want him to be with his slider, he believes he’s come a long way with it. The biggest challenge for him has been figuring out how to keep the same movement on it while throwing it harder because his coaches want it to sit around 86 to 88.
“They want it to tunnel off of my fastball,” he said. “At times it feels like you’re shooting yourself in the foot because you know you can throw a fastball by somebody when you read his swing. But they want you to get him out with your slider. It gets discouraging sometimes with the fact you can’t pitch the way you know how to pitch.”
As his season progressed with the Renegades, White had a lot more success, though. He was touched up for three earned runs on three hits (one home run) and three walks in just one inning over his first two appearances, but in his final 13 games he allowed just three earned runs through 18 1/3 innings while striking out 28. After his ERA ballooned to 27.00 through those first two outings, he finished his first stint in pro ball with a 2.79 ERA and an amazing .119 batting average against.
“As time went by, I gained a little bit more feel and a little more trust with it,” he said.
When he was drafted, White developing his secondary pitches was a key point, evidenced by mlb.com’s scouting report: “White has a big arm for a smaller pitcher, typically sitting in the mid-90s with the ability to ramp his fastball up to 97. He throws primarily fastballs, however, which makes him better suited for a relief role if his secondary pitches don’t develop.”
White also changed the grip of his fastball, going from more of a customary 4-seam grip with his index and middle fingers spread apart to having them against one another. He said he hasn’t lost any command with it, and it has increased his spin rate.
Last month White went to what’s called “pitch design camp,” where all of the coaches and front office personnel are at Tampa Bay’s spring training complex in Port Charlotte, Fla. His pitches were tracked with programs like Rapsodo and TrackMan, which measure velocity, release point, break, spin rate, etc., and the staff helped him break down all of the information and figure out how to incorporate the analytics into his pitching.
“I gathered a lot of good information in that one week throwing just three bullpens,” he said. “I realized I wasn’t getting outside my slider enough, and my changeup was actually really good.”
White said toward the end of his season at Mississippi State, he began using his circle change more as batters began to try to just put his fastball in play, and he had a lot of success with it. He carried it into pro ball with him, but the Rays don’t want him using it much right now and instead want him to continue honing in on his slider.
The biggest difference for White playing in the minor leagues was being able to mentally get amped. Last season Mississippi State had the third-highest attendance in the country, averaging 8,586 fans per game, but White said there were road games with only a couple hundred people in attendance, which often felt more like an intrasquad scrimmage.
“You go from pitching with adrenaline to coming out and it’s flat out dead,” he said.
Thankfully, though, Hudson Valley had the highest attendance in low-A ball, averaging between 3,500 and 4,000 people, according to White.
White is hoping to break spring training with the Bowling Green Hot Rods, Tampa Bay’s single-A affiliate, and get promoted to high-A Charlotte (Stone Crabs) and possibly even double-A Montgomery (Biscuits).
“The big thing is just getting better with every outing with mixing pitches and actually pitching. I obviously don’t want to walk anybody,” he said. “I played with a guy last year, Zack Trageton, who had a really bad first year in pro ball. The next year he went 55 innings and didn’t walk a single batter, and they brought him up. I think if I can throw half the innings he did in relief and not walk anybody, that would be good.”
During this offseason, White has enjoyed his time being home after spending a year in Starkville and getting just three days with his family at home before spending two months in New York.
“Just enjoying family helps you realize there’s a reason why you do the things you do. That’s what awesome, being able to be home for this time period,” he said.
That doesn’t mean his time off hasn’t been busy though. White signed with Topps, which specializes in athletic cards and collectibles, Feb. 3 to produce his own baseball card, and while he doesn’t receive any money up front he will get $10,000 when he reaches Double-A. When the righty signed with the Rays, he received a $197,500 signing bonus, but he is yet to spend any of it.
Baseball wise he’s continued to work on his slider and has tried to get more flexible, especially after gaining a lot of strength over the past calendar year. He’s also got to talk a lot over the phone with Roy Oswalt, who enjoyed an illustrious career with the Houston Astros and is from Weir, Miss., and some with Jerry Weinstein, who had coached in college, the minor leagues, the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic for a total of 51 years.
He’s also been working with a lot of kids in Marion County with their pitching, and he said it’s been really cool to give them a resource since there are so many players with talent that don’t have the opportunity to work with a pro.
White reports to minor league spring training in Port Charlotte March 3.
Pictured Above: Colby White throws at West Marion High School Friday. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
