All-Dipoto Acquisition Team, Mariners Edition: Infield

First base: Evan White

So we have our second starter with zero big-league experience under his belt. First was Logan Gilbert, who landed the 5th spot in our rotation. Now, we come to Evan White who was supposed to be the Opening Day first baseman this year. Although, I suppose if we have a season this year, he will still be the Opening Day starter, so… yeah.

But why did we pick Evan White? There were actually some other candidates discussed, including Daniel Vogelbach, Edwin Encarnacion, Jay Bruce, Dae-Ho Lee, and Ryon Healy to name a few. And one of those players did find their way into our starting lineup as the DH, but there really wasn’t much of a debate. Both Ty and I quickly gave the nod to Evan White.

And while White was one of the first players we decided to take, it actually ended up fitting quite well into our theme of building an athletic defense that values both versatility and speed. By now you surely know that White is a great athlete, especially when compared to other first basemen in the league. But White is such a good athlete, he can actually hold is own in center field if he was asked.

As it stands right now, White is the best defensive first basemen in baseball with above-average speed. We think White is a safe bet to hit for average and produce at least 20 home runs a season, on top of the plus defensive and base-running value he provides. If White can ultimately be a consistent 25-30 home run bat with the good batting average we are expecting, he will make multiple All-Star teams.

But even if the power doesn’t quite click like we are hoping, he is still going to be a solid 2 WAR player for years to come. With a starting staff devoid of an ace, you need a plus defense and great bullpen to help you prevent runs. And thus far, we have built the best possible defensive unit and bullpen with the options given to us, so we like our strategy as we head to the outfield next time on the All-Dipoto Acquisition team.