The Yankees announced that right-hander Colby White has been sent outright to Double-A Somerset. That indicates the righty cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.
White, 25, was claimed off waivers from the Rays two weeks ago. By keeping him on their roster for that short amount of time and then passing him through waivers, the Yankees will get to keep him as non-roster depth. This is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, meaning he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.
The righty was a sixth-round pick of the Rays in 2019 but hasn’t been able to pitch much in the early parts of his professional career. After a brief stint in Low-A in 2019, the minor leagues were cancelled by the pandemic in 2020. The year after, White went through four levels, finishing at Triple-A. He had a 1.44 earned run average in 62 1/3 innings, striking out a massive 45% of batters faced while giving out walks just 6.5% of the time.
Tommy John surgery early in 2022 wiped out that entire season, but the Rays nonetheless added him to their roster at the end of that year. After the numbers he put up in 2021, they understandably feared that he might get poached in the Rule 5 draft.
He returned to the mound last year but control, or the lack thereof, has become a mounting concern. He tossed 22 innings last year with a 1.64 ERA, striking out 27.6% of batters faced but also giving out walks 19.5% of the time. The free passes have finally caught up to him here in 2024, as he has walked a massive 23.1% of batters faced. That’s led to 17 earned runs allowed in 8 1/3 innings for an ERA of 18.36.
Now White will try to get over those control problems and get back on track. If he can get anywhere close to the kind of form he showed prior to his surgery, he could be a useful piece down the road for the Yanks.
I’m happy he’s sticking around. They have built two full bullpens worth of useful guys they picked up off the scrap heap. Dude will probably be pitching high-leverage setup innings for them next year.
Gotta give credit to Cashman and Matt Blake. I think Dennis Santana is the next to go when they decide who moves to the pen when Cole returns. The quick answer is Luis Gil but he’s absolutely dealing as a starter right now.
Next to go is Tonkin IMO. Then probably Santana if a trade is made.
Well Santana is in the pen already but if Effross ever comes back he’s out. Tonkin is first on the roster chopping block. Will be fascinating to see who gives up their rotation spot. I’d vote Nestor at this point as the lefties in the pen have been spotty.
Yankees should goto a 6 man rotation. Most of the starters are not used to pitching a lot of innings.
Would be interesting to see. Everyone is worried about Gil’s workload already. I think his career high is just over 100 innings and that was a few years back.