By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Carson graduate Owen White can’t sprout a decent mustache, but as an athlete who was a starting shortstop in American Legion baseball when he was still in the eighth grade, he’s been successful in life at just about everything else he’s tried.

At least that was the case until the middle of the 2023 season when White’s baseball career experienced a sudden change in trajectory. Up until that point, whenever he was healthy, there was never any reason to doubt White could be successful at the highest level of baseball.

A second-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers in 2018, White passed on a scholarship to South Carolina and signed with the Rangers for $1.5 million.

White had no luck for a while. There was Tommy John surgery, a full minor league season lost to COVID, a self-inflicted broken hand while pitching in Kannapolis, but all those setbacks had the silver lining of reducing the mileage on his right arm. Once he finally got healthy and was back on the mound late in 2021 and in 2022, he took charge and looked like the real deal.

White, who was honored as North Carolina’s top high school baseball player in 2018, peaked in the fall of 2022 when he was rated as the second-best prospect in the Texas Rangers farm system and a top-60 prospect in all of baseball. Those rankings came after he crushed the competition in the Arizona Fall League with a 1.91 ERA in six starts. He was named the Arizona Fall League Pitcher of the Year, and every person swinging a bat in that league was a prospect.

In July 2023, White represented the Rangers well, throwing a perfect inning in the MLB Futures Game that is part of All-Star Week. He was on top of the world. A chance to start games for the Rangers didn’t seem far away.

But the right-hander struggled often as a starter during the rest of 2023 and in 2024 in Triple-A ball in Round Rock, Texas.

White also made five relief appearances — none of them overly successful — on MLB mounds with the Rangers.

His arm felt fine last season. His velocity, which peaked at 97, stayed comfortably in the mid-90s, but he couldn’t throw the ball exactly where he wanted to. He was walking a lot more people than usual, so he couldn’t just try to hit corners, and when you have to throw the ball toward the heart of the plate at the level White pitches at it, it gets hit hard.

Balls were hit hard enough that White wasn’t shocked on Dec. 20 when he was designated for assignment by the Rangers, the organization that drafted him and nurtured him as he climbed the ladder toward being a highly praised prospect.

“Well, there are only a few things that can happen when you’re designated for assignment,” White said. “A team might claim you on waivers or a team might make a trade for you. If neither of those things had happened, I would have worked out a minor-league deal with the Rangers.”

In early January, the Rangers worked out a trade for White, who was swapped to the Cincinnati Reds for “cash considerations,” rather than another player.

“The Rangers actually called me first to let me know what was happening,” White said. “Then the Reds called and Brad (Meador) called me to welcome me to the Reds.”

Meador is a former college coach who has been with the Reds organization for about 15 years. He holds the titles of general manager and senior vice president.

White knows a handful of Reds from travel ball games, Spring Training games, all-star games and various stops along the baseball journey.

“Rece Hinds, Matt McLain, Jose Trevino are some of the guys I have met,” White said. “I don’t know if they would remember me.”

White and Rhett Lowder, a 22-year-old pitcher from North Stanly High who was Cincinnati’s first draft pick out of Wake Forest University in 2023, made it to the majors in 2024. Lowder and White played high school ball 24 miles apart, but White is a few years older and doesn’t really know Lowder.

“We were at the same autograph session once, I believe,” White said. “I know about him, I know who he is, but I’ve never really talked to him.”

White, 25, has settled in Salisbury. He bought a house near Crescent Golf Club. He and Madi Barnhardt, who was a standout at Carson in volleyball and softball when White was in high school, were married in December 2022 and are expecting their first child in May.

White is fully aware how important the upcoming season is for him. There’s a mighty wide range of potential outcomes. It could be the year he establishes himself as a big leaguer. There’s also a chance that it’s the season where he says goodbye to his status a baseball prospect.

“I’m 25,” White said. “The way I look at it, it’s definitely time. It’s time to get it done or to find out that I can’t get it done.”

White will head to Spring Training with the Reds next month.

“The goal will be to make the big club,” White said. “That’s always the goal.”

The most likely scenario would seem to be for White to open the season in Triple-A. That’s Louisville. If he does well there, he’ll probably get a shot with the Reds because no pitching staff makes it through a 162-game season without injuries.

White has always been a starting pitcher in high school, high-level travel ball and in the minors, but he has been used only as a reliever in his brief appearances in the majors.

Maybe the Reds will look at White differently. White has a starting pitcher’s mindset and a starter’s variety of pitches. Besides an above-average MLB fastball, a four-seamer that runs, he has quality breaking pitches. His slider and curveball are considered big-league-level pitches. He also mixes in a changeup and a cutter.

Derek Johnson, the director of pitching for the Reds, could make White a priority project.

But in the end, it will come down to White being more consistent, getting ahead in the count and executing pitches. Maybe this is the year it comes together for him.

While he waits for Spring Training, White will serve as one of the speakers at Catawba College’s First Pitch Dinner on Jan. 25.

“I’ve got a lot of family ties to Catawba and to Newman Park,” White said. “So I’m looking forward to that.”