This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MIAMI -- Following his second consecutive Spring Breakout start in March, Marlins top prospect Thomas White confessed his dream of reaching the Majors would start feeling real once he got to the Double-A level.
That moment arrived on Friday night when White was chased in the third inning of his Double-A debut against Montgomery at Blue Wahoos Stadium. MLB Pipeline’s No. 30 overall prospect gave up one run on three hits, two of the infield variety, while issuing a season-high four walks and striking out four in 2 2/3 frames. Of his 70 pitches, 38 were strikes.
The 20-year-old struck out the side in a scoreless first but needed 37 pitches to strand the bases loaded. He fanned Homer Bush Jr. to open the inning, then walked back-to-back batters. Following a mound visit, White allowed a single to put runners on every base. He hunkered down by fanning the next two batters to end the threat.
White bounced back with a 13-pitch second. His command proved elusive again in the third, with consecutive walks to open the frame. After inducing his second double play in as many innings, White gave up an RBI infield hit to end his outing.
“I'm not happy with it at all,” White said. “I don't think it's what I was looking to go out there and do. I felt like the stuff was there and the command obviously wasn't tonight. Hopefully I can rein it in for the next time, because the good thing is I don't think I need to work on any movement or anything like that. It's good to see my stuff definitely does play.”
Improved command was one of White’s goals in 2025. After the initial disappointment of returning to High-A Beloit to start his season rather than moving up a level, White spoke to people and understood there was more to learn, especially at such a young age. That included landing his offspeed for strikes.
In nine starts for the Sky Carp prior to his promotion, White went 2-2 with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He struck out 53, walked 17 and permitted no homers in 35 innings. In between, White missed a couple of turns in the rotation while dealing with left index finger soreness.
“I think pretty much the story of my season so far has been that my stuff took a really big jump -- not that it was unexpected -- but I kept on saying for a long time [that] I'm trying to rein in the command,” White said. “My stuff has taken such a big jump in velo and movement that maybe that's what's causing a little bit of the command issues. But I kind of expected to come in with similar movement profiles to last year, but my changeup has gotten a lot better. The sweeper is better, and I'm throwing it harder, too.
“Fastball velo is up a little bit, and the new gyro, [I'm] also starting to figure out the shape of that, and it's super consistent. Now it's about still trying to find the command. I missed so many bats and had such high whiff rates in High-A that there really wasn't much damage being done, so I'm assuming that was probably what was behind the promotion. It was good to see that it seems to be relatively true here.”
Considered the top left-handed pitcher available in the 2023 MLB Draft, White has climbed the prospect rankings and progressed through the system since being selected in Competitive Balance Round A (35th overall). He helped Single-A Jupiter capture its first Florida State League title in his first taste of professional ball in 2023, then earned the Midwest Prospect of the Year Award and an invitation to the All-Star Futures Game in his first full season in ‘24.
White joined catcher Joe Mack (Marlins No. 5 prospect, No. 96 overall), who went from Double-A Pensacola to Triple-A Jacksonville on April 22, as the second top 10 prospect in Miami’s system to move up a level in 2025. White’s start at Blue Wahoos Stadium also marked the third time an MLB affiliate's top prospect has made his Double-A debut for the Blue Wahoos (Nick Senzel, 2017, Reds; Royce Lewis ‘19, Twins), and the first time it happened at home.
“It's just a definite step up in terms of a bunch of things, just kind of how the clubhouse feels and how the games go, the energy on both sides,” White said of Double-A. “It feels like there's less time for learning and more time for going out and competing and really winning the ballgame, which is really fun. I'd say there's a definite difference. You can definitely feel that you're starting to be on the heels of the big leagues.”