North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; The Top 30 series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the Pirates Top 30 prospects, with a few bonus “double drop” weeks. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss the following.

• Scouting Score
• Performance
• Expectations
• Projected Debut
  
  When it comes to scouting grades, the scale used is 20-80. So, a 20-30 grade would be considered well below average. A 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average (Also called Plus) and 70-80 is well above average (or Plus Plus). For prospects the overall grade is where scouts expect the player to perform once in the majors. For example, a 65 grade would be an All-Star caliber standout player, whereas a 50 would be an everyday player and a 40 would be a bench player.

Lonnie White Jr:

White Jr. is part of what might end up being one of the better Pittsburgh Pirate Draft classes in 2021. He was the 3rd Pirate taken behind Henry Davis and Anthony Solometo and before Bubba Chandler. Pirates went over-slot to pull him away from his commitment to PSU. White Jr. started the 2024 season as the Pirates 12th best prospect.

White Jr. rates as just below average with hitting and average with his power. However, he is a plus-plus runner with an average arm and plus fielding, all of which bodes well for a centerfielder. He was a two-sport athlete playing both Baseball and Football. However, injuries have derailed a lot of his early development as he played only 11 games in 2021 and 2022. Therefore, he has not been able to show off a lot of where his scouting scores have originated from. He was able to play 61 games in 2023 and started to show of his abilities. Scouts admire his ability to be quick to the ball and show solid if not good power. They also mention his speed as it suits him well on not only the basepaths but in centerfield as well. If White Jr. can put his tools together he could end up a faster better fielding version of Bryan Reynolds.

2024 brought a healthy White Jr. to Greensboro looking to put in his first full season for the Pirates. So far though June he has shown his lack of playing time over the last few years. Through 58 games he is hitting .184/.288/.383 with a .670 OPS. He has hit 10 homeruns and 7 doubles with a triple to go along. His biggest issue is the 73 strikeouts against his 20 walks, that is a 37% strikeout rate. So while he power has been present he has struggled with the rest of his offensive game. While this can be somewhat understood due to the injures, he will need to get much better at this part of the game if he wants to advance. Defensively he has played very well playing mostly in centerfield with some right and left fields mixed in. Being 21 in high A puts him about on par for the league. But to cement his Top Prospect status he will need to start to flip some of these offensive numbers around as the summer heats up. Especially considering the way he played down the stretch in June. June 15 through the end of the month saw White Jr hit at a .367/.486/.667 triple slash with a 1.153 OPS. Mostly importantly over that period his K% was only 21.6, and his BB% was 18.9. He will not be able to continue to hit at that clip, however if he is able to keep that K% and BB% close he will be a much better hitter the rest of the season.

Based on the injuries and other factors it is likely if not guaranteed that White Jr. will play the full year in Greensboro. It is likely he will also start the next season there with a potentially Altoona call-up if he is able to offensively get back on track. This would all point to a trip to the show for maybe an initial cup of coffee in 2027 or so. Though this is all dependent on the strikeout rate coming down and him building on the tools he already has in his belt. If White Jr. can start to do that then it is possible you have a long-term starting centerfielder, who could hit for power and steal bags, possibly like a certain White Sox suddenly everyone wants to trade for.