Tigers re-sign Brendan White to Minor League deal

The Tigers re-signed the right-hander Brendan White to a minor league deal, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. White, who went non-roster in Detroit last month, gets a non-roster invite to big league Spring Training as part of the deal and will make $765,000 when he’s in the majors.

White, 26, started in the Tigers organization as a 26th-round pick of the 2019 draft. After making his pro debut shortly after being drafted, White did not pitch during the canceled minor league season in 2020, but he returned to the field in 2021 for the club’s High-A affiliate. In 26 appearances (18 starts) at the level, White posted a fairly solid 4.17 ERA in 101 1/3 innings of work with a 23.9% strikeout rate against a 6% walk rate. Despite these solid results, White was moved to the bullpen upon his arrival at Double-A the following year. That role change came with excellent results as he dominated opposing hitters with a 2.67 ERA in 67 1/3 innings of work. His walk rate remained stable at 6.3%, but his strikeout rate rose to 27.1% in the new role.

That not only earned him a promotion to Triple-A Toledo in 2023, but also opened the door for White to make his big league debut. The righty split his time between the majors and Triple-A in 2023 and totaled 77 2/3 innings of work between the two levels. At Triple-A, White posted an excellent 30.9% strikeout rate while walking 6.8% of opponents despite a rather pedestrian ERA of 4.14. In the majors, White struggled to a 5.09 ERA (86 ERA+) despite excellent peripherals. He punched 24.9% of opponents against a walk rate of 8.5%. On top of that, White also had an impressive 51.9% groundball rate in the majors.

The righty’s strong peripherals seemed likely to earn him a spot in the Tigers’ bullpen mix for the 2024 season, but elbow inflammation kept him out of the mound for nearly all of 2024. Last year he pitched just 7.1 innings. /3 overall across four minors before being placed on the 60-day IL in the majors in August. After White’s lost season, the Tigers decided to designate him for assignment and subsequently not tender him last month. That made him an eligible free agent to sign with any of the league’s 30 organizations, but he will eventually return to Detroit on a non-roster pact and attempt to return to the majors.

The first step in this process is to get healthy, a box that Petzold says is already checked. He notes that the right-hander underwent a procedure to address a right radial nerve injury in August and returned to pitching from a mound the following month, allowing him to participate in a regular offseason pitching program. Assuming he stays healthy going forward, it’s not at all difficult to imagine White returning to the Tigers roster at some point in 2025, and perhaps even in time for 2025 Opening Day.