The Blue Jays have signed first baseman Tyler White and outfielder Forrest Wall to minor league contracts, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (Twitter link). Both players have been invited to Toronto’s big league Spring Training camp.
White returns to North American baseball after a brief stint with the KBO League’s SK Wyverns last season, as he appeared in only nine games and posted a .685 OPS over 30 plate appearances. A well-regarded hitting prospect when coming up in the Astros’ farm system, White has a career .305/.404/.509 slash line over 2249 PA in the minors and certainly seemed on the verge of breaking through at the MLB level when he hit .277/.349/.531 for over 304 PA with Houston during the 2017-18 seasons. However, after struggling badly in 2019 and being caught in something of a position crunch, White was dealt to the Dodgers in July 2019.
There isn’t much risk for the Jays in seeing if White can unlock any hitting potential at age 30. Playing time may be hard to come by with Toronto since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez are slated for first base/DH duties, but White could find some at-bats spelling Tellez against southpaws (though Tellez has a higher career OPS against left-handed pitching than White).
Wall is back with the Jays after electing free agency following the season. Picked 35th overall by the Rockies in the 2014 draft, Wall has yet to crack the big leagues, though he has hit a respectable .274/.353/.413 over 2329 PA in the Colorado and Toronto farm systems. A strong Spring Training could give Wall a shot at unseating Jonathan Davis or Derek Fisher as the Blue Jays’ top backup outfield options.
But but MLBTR never posted the Jays were interested in these 2. How can this happen???
I don’t understand why people harp on them so much about this. It’s a news aggregation site, it’s not original reporting. They’re only reporting what other people are reporting. If you don’t care, scroll past it. Not that difficult.
Well I doubt people are getting mad at MLBTR for doing their job; instead people are laughing at the Jays for being connected to literally every player.
Exactly. That’s directly a function of the Blue Jays leaking info into the market through their best reporters, which is why it ends up here. As it should. Other teams, like the Braves or Yankees, generally clamp down on news leaks.
Beat. Not best.
“people are laughing at the Jays for being connected to literally every player”
Thing is, that’s what is being reported. I’m sure there are a lot of teams out there that are “interested” in all the players too. It’s just not reported
Think it’s more the agents are using them for leverage. Hardly any of the rumours have come from the beat reporters from sportsnet, it’s all been he national writers.
Still bitter eh.
Nobody’s harping on them. Many of us just found it funny that they seem to report the Blue Jays having interest in every available free agent, and we’ve been happily beating the joke to death.
Haha, it has become very entertaining in a slow off-season to see the “Blue Jays are intrested” posts.
I always liked Forrest Wall. He still has some time. Only 25
WALL IS BACK BABY
White… is… uh… no comment.
Hey! The White dude! I really hope he hangs on to a team. I thought his career might’ve been over after the Dodgers, but maybe he’s made some steps to get better after they let him go since the Jays saw something in him again.
White should have tried to sign with the Nationals and been in the mix for the vacant starting role. Zimmerman is not exactly a long term road block.
Meh. Sign one of the big four!
The final pieces of the puzzle
Wall should have been called up in 2020, dropping Fisher. Unfortunately people in the Jays organization is still high on Fisher. Hope he performs in Spring.
My Bet is fisher is cut from the Jays about halfway into the season. And if we look at all the players that were either traded for Fisher or not protected because of Fisher it is a blatant error in scouting.
Fisher was called as a 4A player when he was acquired.
I don’t think Fisher makes it to opening day.
He should have been cut months ago. Someone in the organization believes highly in Fisher. That is why he’s still on the roster. I won’t count on him being cut but if he does I will give you full credit.
“All in all it’s just a- nother guy and Forrest Wall”
Glad we brought Wall back. He’s still young enough to have some upside.
White has some pretty impressive AAA numbers, and he did have that one good year in Houston a few years ago. More of AAAA player, though. But hey, somebody has to play 1B in Buffalo. Good minor league signings.
Forest Wall AND Tyler White! This stove is so hot I can’t stand it!
Feel bad to Jay’s fans. Tyler White’s pluses are that he is slow, strike out prone and below average in the field. Negatives: he let himself get fat, doesn’t hustle and horrific with men on base!
We don’t feel bad. He is now the most fit 1B we have.
Sounds like Vogelbach.
Yes! We got our first 2 of the big 4 Ross promised us!
Probably better to go for walter white. At least he would have a better chance to crack the lineup
Dumpster diving with upside for the Jays. When Fisher goes maybe Wall can stick.
White might go back to the KBO since his 2020 season in the KBO was quickly ended because of an injury.
Soooo, altogether they signed an outdated tire today…. White Wall.