White carries Nuts with four-hit game

Mariners No. 2 prospect perfect at plate, drives in three runs

Evan White has 59 runs scored and 51 RBIs in the California League. (Jerry Espinoza/MiLB.com)

By Marisa Ingemi

August 17, 2018

For the second time in just over a week, Evan White had everything clicking.Seattle's No. 2 prospect picked up four hits while driving in three runs and scoring twice to lead Class A Advanced Modesto to a 12-5 win over Visalia at John Thurman Field. White racked up three RBIs

For the second time in just over a week, Evan White had everything clicking.
Seattle's No. 2 prospect picked up four hits while driving in three runs and scoring twice to lead Class A Advanced Modesto to a 12-5 win over Visalia at John Thurman Field. White racked up three RBIs for the fifth time this season.

The entire Nuts offense found a groove Thursday night, but for White, it was a marker of how his patient approach at the plate has worked.
"I really stayed with my approach and tried not to do too much," he said. "I tried to just be on time with my swing and let the rest take care of itself."
White raced for his fifth triple of the season on a line drive off a fastball to right field that plated Kevin Santa in the first inning off Cole Stapler. He grounded a single off a cutter to left in the third off the righty.
The 22-year-old hit his 19th double of the year on a liner to left in the fifth on a curveball, plating No. 23 Mariners prospect Luis Liberato. In the sixth off righty Carlos Bustamante, he connected with a hard fastball, racing for a double on a soft line drive to left that scored Santa again. In a five-run eighth, he walked and scored on a two-RBI single by 12th-ranked Joe Rizzo.
With Modesto putting up 12 runs and the rest of the offense continuing to get on base, the desire to drive runs home served as further motivation for White.
"Everyone was having fun tonight, no one was trying to do too much," said White. "Everyone was trusting themselves. It's always fun when you have a game like that and everyone is working."
Gameday box score
The 17th overall pick in the 2017 Draft also racked up four hits on Aug. 9 against Stockton -- all singles -- and drove in three runs. He's bumped his average to .294, its highest point since July 14.
White enjoyed a four-game stint with Triple-A Tacoma in June and he's found some success by slightly altering his approach when he returned.
"I want to continue to work and improve on being on time with my swings," he said. "I want to go with the same approach I went with today and I hope that carries into the next couple of games. Hopefully that carries more. I'm just going to try to stay within myself and go from there."

White upped his RBI total to 51 in 414 at-bats in first full season in the Minors after playing in the Northwest League for 14 games last year. After hovering around the .280 range all season, the changes have really started to pay off in the latter part of the year.
"I made some adjustments that help me be on time as consistently as possible," said White. "It just comes from a mind-set and just a few physical adjustments. Get my hands in a good position to launch and fire from. Those are the main things, and it's started to come together a little bit."
Jack Larsen belted a two-run homer and Nick Zammarelli III doubled twice, drove in three and scored once.

Marisa Ingemi is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Ingemi.