JULY 16: White has indeed elected to undergo season-ending hip surgery, reports Corey Brock of the Athletic (Twitter link).
JULY 10: Mariners first baseman Evan White was placed on the 10-day injured list on May 14 due to a strained left hip flexor, and his recovery process has already involved one setback, a cortisone shot, and a shift to the 60-day IL. Now, White’s season is in jeopardy, as Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including The Athletic’s Corey Brock and MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer) that “the injury is more ominous than we thought.”
A season-ending surgery is a possibility, and whatever direction White and the team takes, “we are hopeful that we have a definitive answer on that in the next couple of days,” Dipoto said. “My guess is at some point tomorrow, or just after we come out of the break, we’ll have a news update. But I wouldn’t anticipate having Evan back, perhaps, for the remainder of the year.”
Such a procedure could have a longer-term impact than just the 2021 season. While obviously the surgery’s intent is to correct White’s hip issue for now and in the future, it can take a while for players to fully adjust and recover from major hip surgery. Perhaps the most famous recent example was Buster Posey, who had hip surgery late in the 2018 season and didn’t look right for the entire 2019 campaign (though Posey also had the additional physical toll of playing catcher).
Any way you look at it, the surgery is a rough development for the 25-year-old White, who has only 84 games and 306 plate appearances under his belt at the Major League level. White has hit only .165/.235/.308 in the majors, but he has already made a name for himself as a defensive standout, winning AL Gold Glove honors at first base in his 2020 rookie season.
The 17th overall pick of the 2017 draft, White posted some solid (though not overwhelming) numbers at the plate in his first three minor league seasons, which was enough for the Mariners to confirm him as part of their future by signing White to a six-year contract worth $24MM in guaranteed money. If all three club options are exercised, the contract maxes out as a nine-year pact worth $55.5MM through the 2028 campaign.
In short, there’s still plenty of time for White to get healthy and establish himself as a Seattle cornerstone, even if his first two seasons haven’t gone as planned. These types of “pre-career” contract extensions between teams and top prospects have become increasingly popular in recent years, and White’s situation could be used (for better or worse) as an example of why some youngsters might prefer to lock in a big payday at the risk of potentially limiting future earnings.
Poor guy. Hip pain sucks big time.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
Get back soon Evan.
Anthony Rizzos new home
Woahhhhhhh that’s an interesting move
Cubs and Mariners have traded before……
? Who were they trade for
Its going to take a good pitching prospect
@ 7heals Mike Montgomery for Daniel Vogelbach comes to mind.
Hate to say it, but Ty France may have made White expendable, anyways. Dude is more than good enough defensively to be the 1B of the future for Seattle.
White needs to spend all of whatever activity period he has this offseason working on overhauling his swing and becoming more contact oriented. He hits the ball really hard, but his whiff rate is not acceptable at the MLB level.
Agreed. France is ranked as the #1 defensive first baseman since White went down with an injury. He’s cheap and under control for many years.
Hold onto the pitching prospects and let’s get some looks at the kids Kelenic and Raleigh.
Besides Luis Torrens can play a little first as well. He was doing it in AAA for the Rainiers during his recent demotion.
France is ranked number 1 they don’t even play baseball………..
I see what you did there
“If the French had a baseball team they would only play Left Field and no one would be safe!”
~Robin Williams – Broadway Live
@Benjamin560 Unless they’re gonna carry Murphy and Raleigh to go along with Torrens, I’d rather Torrens not play a position other than C. Can’t continue to DH your backup catcher the way they have been, either.
Meh about the concerns DHing a Catcher. Teams have done it several times before and it’s common practice on MiL teams that want to ensure their Catchers still get the PA needed to develop.
Given that the loss of a DH extends no further than the rest of 1 game if something happens (knock on wood), the effect is much, much smaller than you choose to believe.
In addition, there’s the fact that if the M’s were so inclined to not want to lose their DH for that “all-important” rest of 1 game, they have France as the emergency C… who might be a better defensive C than Torrens, anyway (and not because France is likely to be an excellent, good or average defender).
In the short term, France is fine as “the” 1B. Next year, with Seager likely to sign elsewhere, 3B had been slotted to be filled by France. That’s where the concern about White’s hip comes in.
France is plenty good enough to play elsewhere even if he won’t be “as good” (though I’ll say White is as well — he’s good enough to handle CF if he were still healthy and Lewis hurt). This team needs too much offense to choose to have a black hole at 1B (think Angels before they found Walsh and finally decided to shed their sunk cost).
Pick up Seagers option to play 3rd and DH. France can play 3rd more than Kyle. Kyle would be great as a veteran leader. They have the money to spend. Going to be interesting how Dipoto handles the trade deadline and off-season.