Seattle Mariners: 3 Reasons Why Evan White’s Rookie Season was a Fluke

Reason No. 1 – When Evan White made contact in 2020, he hit the ball hard extremely often

To take a deep dive into Evan White’s rookie season, you must look beyond the everyday stats. Especially in a pandemic-shortened 60-game season. Out of all qualified batters in 2020, Evan White’s 52.5% hard-hit rate ranked 13th in all of baseball.

Every batter who checked in ahead of White would have very likely been an All-Star in 2020 had there been a game, outside of the human tank known as Miguel Sano and Christian Yelich, the latter of which having an incredibly uncharacteristic 60 games last year. That alone should tell you something.

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White was not only in elite company with his hard-hit rate in 2020 but with his barrel percentage as well. He ranked third among all qualified first-baseman, with a 14.1% barrel percentage.

Who were the only two first-baseman to barrel up baseballs more often than White in his rookie year? That would be none other than both of Major League Baseball’s Most Valuable Players in 2020.

Indeed the only two first-baseman with a higher barrel percentage in 2020 were the two best hitters in baseball for 2020, José Abreu and Freddie Freeman. The fact that White was one of Statcast’s favorite hitters last year, despite struggling to adjust to Major League sequencing at the same time, should tell you all you need to know.

Reason No. 2: – Evan White is now established as the best defensive first baseman in baseball, not just the Seattle Mariners

Coming into the show he was heralded as one of the top defensive prospects in baseball, and last season Evan White led all Major League first baseman in the majority of defensive categories.

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Anthony Rizzo topped a few categories as well, and rightfully so, as he is four-time Gold Glover himself. But among American League first baseman in 2020, Evan White led essentially every single category.

What this means for Evan White is that he should be a regular for the Gold Glove Award at first base in the American League for years to come. Defense is hard and nobody should be considered a pencil-in for that award, but White’s trajectory has him as close to that as it gets.

This is something that should excite Mariner fans because this type of national recognition is not something that many rookies receive and will instill a sense of confidence and pride within Evan White.

To give you an idea of the type of rookie season that White had defensively, here are a few of the notable stats in which he paced all first basemen last year; Defensive runs saved (+7),  revised zone rating (.911), out of zone plays made (11), and first baseman scoops (7).

Reason No. 3 – Evan White was an excellent situational hitter in 2020 for the Seattle Mariners

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Another very encouraging sign from Evan White’s abbreviated rookie season was without a doubt his ability to hit with runners in scoring position. Thanks to the pandemic his sample size is not big, but in 47 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, he hit .310 and had 22 RBI’s with a phenomenal 1.028 OPS.

White’s SLG of .667 with RISP checks into the top-15 in all of baseball in 2020. His OPS also ranked 22nd in baseball with RISP. Evan White’s isolated power with RISP also resided in the top-15 for 2020, at number 14. He ranked inside the top-15 in AB-per-HR ratio as well, going deep once every 10.5 at-bats.

It is very encouraging to see someone have that much success with runners in scoring position, especially a player who struggled as much as Evan White did in 2020. It shows that even through the growing pains, White was able to thrive as a situational hitter.

On paper, Evan White’s 2020 season is not going to wow you. It may not even excite you. But there are more than enough reasons to show that his rookie year was a fluke and that a breakout season could be coming from the Seattle Mariners’ young first basemen in 2021.