Sunday, June 29, 2008

Alex White

Alex White
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC



Class in 2009: Junior
Position: Right-handed Pitcher (Starter)
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 191 pounds
Hometown: Greenville, NC
High School: D.H Conley
Age on Draft Day '09: approx. 20 years, 9 months

Draft stock: Top 5-10 picks in 2009 Draft. Chance at #1 overall.

Scouting report: (video at bottom of page)
STRENGTHS:
White's electric arm throws a lively, moving low-to-mid 90s fastball from a 3/4 arm slot that can top out at 96 or 97 mph. His slider has been his go-to secondary pitch for awhile and it features good velocity and movement and he can often throw it for strikes. Recently he has begun to augment that with a strong, biting splitter. The splitter helps him deal with left-handed batters as it acts similar to a changeup. He doesn't seem to struggle pitching from the stretch. White is an excellent athlete who was good enough as a HS basketball player to draw mid-major recruiting interest. White has a strong, lean build and a good frame for pitching that could still fill out a small bit. He has really embraced his role this year as staff ace since Robert Woodard departed.

WEAKNESSES:
He could stand to be more consistent with his command and overall quality of pitches from start to start, mixing in a dud or two with otherwise brilliant pitching. Even in some dominating starts he got in trouble with walks (example - 5.2 ip, 1 hit, 5 walks, 6 Ks, no runs at Clemson). His arm slot is three-quarters, but it dropped has he fatigued as a freshman but - with some muscle added to his projectable, athletic frame - he has avoided that so-far as a sophomore. The fatigue caused a poor second half and poor postseason to mar a great start to his freshman year. His arm slot will occasionally vary even when (seemingly) rested, so tightening up the muscle memory there could largely eliminate much of his inconsistencies.

OMAHA UPDATE - White was lights-out in Omaha for the College World Series. He delivered a strong start against a good LSU offense and then was used in a multi-inning relief role for almost every game after that, something UNC head coach Mike Fox loves doing with his relievers (Wooten and Moran were used this way, and Jon Hovis and Matt Danford in the past). In his start White mixed his three power pitches well but he was electric in his relief outings by using his fastball almost exclusively. The combination of movement and velocity he had on it made it difficult to make contact with and, if you did make contact, hard to make the contact any good. He would have broken a bat or two if opponents were using wood. This year he was at his best in Omaha instead of his worst.

SUMMER UPDATE: White, expected to be ace for the Cape Cod League's Chatham A's, has shut things down for the summer to rest his arm.

NOTES:
-Drafted in Round 14 by Dodgers out of HS. Turned down a 6-figure bonus from them.
-A good enough athlete that he could have been drafted as a 3b out of HS and was a potential two-way player as a collegian.
-A few months younger than most players in his year.
-His brother Travis played at N.C Wesleyan (where UNC coach Mike Fox came from) and played one year of pro ball.

Statistics:
Player     ERA  W-L   APP-GS CG  IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  2B  3B  HR  B/Avg   WP HBP  
2007 (fr.) 4.94 6-7 19-18 0 98.1 100 63 54 48 83 25 2 5 .277 6 7
2008 (so.) 2.83 13-3 20-15 1 101.2 78 43 32 42 113 15 0 6 .215 6 5

Accolades:
-Third-team BA HS All-American in 2006.
-Second-team Rivals.com Freshman All-America in 2007.
-BA midseason Freshman of the Year in 2007.
-Ranked by BA as #14 Cape Cod prospect in the summer after his freshman year
-2008 ACC Pitcher of the Year.
-2008 All-College World Series, after getting Win in all 3 of his team's CWS wins.

Fastball Velo: 65/70
Movement: 65/65
Command: 40/50
Slider: 50/60
Split: 50/60

VIDEO: This is just some highlights of three years ago a HS championship game.

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