Seattle Mariners: Evan White ranked second-best 1B prospect by MLB Pipeline

Once regarded as one of the worst farm systems in baseball, the Seattle Mariners’ crop of young prospects are starting to earn some respect around the sport.

MLB Pipeline is building up to the reveal of its prospect rankings for the 2019 professional baseball season by leaking out its positional rankings one-by-one. Tonight, Pipeline unveiled their top 10 first base prospects and the Mariners’ Evan White landed second-best, falling in between Peter Alonso of the Mets and Brendan McKay of the Rays.

White slotting ahead of McKay is good news for the former’s chances to make the top 100, as the latter finished the year 24th overall on Pipeline’s rankings. However, McKay is an exciting two-way player and is judged equally as both a pitcher and a position player, so he likely will remain far ahead of White in the overall rankings.

The nod from Pipeline was well-earned in 2018, as White continued to flash his Gold Glove-caliber defense and put things together at the plate following a series of swing changes. The former first round pick out of Kentucky slashed .303/.375/.458 with 11 home runs and 66 RBIs in 120 games with High-A Modesto.

If White were to make Pipeline’s top 100, he would likely be the fourth Mariner on the list, joining newcomers Justus Sheffield, Jarred Kelenic, and Justin Dunn. However, White would be the only “homegrown” Mariners prospect to make it, and the first since Kyle Lewis in 2017, though Julio Rodriguez and Logan Gilbert may not be far behind by the end of 2019.

Next season, White is expected to immediately jump to Double-A Arkansas and has a slim chance to reach the MLB by September. In all likelihood, his 2019 campaign will likely conclude in Triple-A Tacoma with an opportunity to make the Mariners’ roster coming out of Spring Training in 2020.