Owen White was draft in 2018 in the 2nd round 55th overall. He was committed to play at the University of South Carolina but was drafted. However, White needed Tommy John surgery in 2019 so he didn’t throw. Then we all know about what happened in 2020. He didn’t throw his first professional inning till 2021 where he throw two innings in rookie ball then was called up to Low A where he finished the year. In 2021 he logged a total of 35 1/3 innings posting a 3.06 ERA while striking out 56 hitters, and holding opponents to a .203 average. In 2022 he logged 80 1/3 innings posting a 3.59 ERA while pitching for Low A and AA where he had a 2.49 ERA in 21 2/3 innings. After 2022 Owen White was really never the same pitcher. He did start off 2023 well in AA posting a 3.51 ERA in 56 1/3 innings, but was called up to AAA where he posted a 4.99 ERA in 52 1/3 innings. He also made his debut in 2023, but it wasn’t good. He posted a 11.25 ERA at the major league level in 4 innings. However, his struggles didn’t stop there. In 2024 he threw 99 innings in AAA posting a 5.64 ERA, then was called up to the big league club where he threw 3 innings and posted a 24.00 ERA giving up 9 hits and a HR with 0 strikeouts. On December 20th he was DFA’d to make room for Hoby Milner on the 40-man roster. Then on January 6th he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for cash.
Personally I think Owen White lost time to develop and he just fell behind. He had surgery in 2019 and was shut down, then 2020 hit and nobody could do anything. He didn’t get any coaching for 2 years, and players just get better and better each year. Could the Rangers then poor pitching development play a part in it yes they could have but he had other things that definitely didn’t help. The 2018 draft also hasn’t been too great in producing MLB talent, only producing 8 all stars to this day. Some notable ones being Tarik Skull, Shane McClanahan, Lucas Gilbert, Steven Kwan, Alec Bohm, Jarren Duran, David Fry. Other than that not really any productive MLB players.
I didn’t think that Owen White was going to be an ace by any means, but he could have been a serviceable 3-5 starter in the big leagues. Not every prospect you draft will pan out so you just have to move on and keep drafting and developing big league talent. Then again I could totally be wrong and pitching development messed him up. I think the Owen White era was just over in Texas and it was time for us to move on. Maybe he needs a change of scenery like Cole Ragans did. I don’t think Rangers fans have to worry about Owen White becoming into the conversation of one of the best pitchers in the game though.
