Get to know No. 40 Draft pick Tommy White
Brian Murphy
@Spokes_MurphyTommy White isn't a perfect prospect. His average arm strength and agility give rise to questions about his ability to stick at third base. His 30-grade speed won't provide much value on the basepaths.
But boy, can he hit. And hit. And hit.
“He's one of my favorite non-top 11 guys in the Draft," MLB.com's Jim Callis recently said about White. "Everybody thinks about the power, but I think he's a really underrated hitter. He keeps making more contact each year. I'm a really big Tommy White fan.”
Here is what you need to know about the A's No. 40 Draft selection.
FAST FACTS
Position: 3B
Ht/Wt: 6-foot-1, 228 lbs
B/T: Right/right
DOB: March 2, 2003
College: Louisiana State
High school: IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)
Born: St. Pete Beach, Fla.
MLB Pipeline Ranking: No. 20
MLB Draft selection: No. 40 overall (A's)
He's been a dangerous hitter in college from day one
White's potent bat announced its presence immediately in college. He went deep in his first at-bat with the North Carolina State Wolfpack in 2022 and ended up clubbing nine homers across his first eight games. He ultimately broke the NCAA freshman record with 27 homers and slashed .362/.425/.757 across 235 at-bats.
Nothing has changed since White transferred to LSU ahead of the 2023 season. He went deep 24 times, batted .372 and was voted as a first-team All-American by multiple outlets last year. He tied for the Division I lead in RBIs (105) and ranked among the top 10 in total bases (198) and hits (102). White cranked another 24 homers in 2024, while batting .330/.401/.638.
White consistently posts high exit velocities and relatively low strikeout totals. His 60-grade power may be his top tool, but his overall ability as a hitter is what makes him worthy of a first-round pick.
Say hello to Tommy Tanks
While White will likely be introduced at the MLB Draft by his given name, most people know him by another: Tommy Tanks.
Why Tommy Tanks? It's pretty simple. He hits tanks (read: home runs). And he is kind of built like a tank. White was listed at 6-foot, 242 pounds at NC State. He was listed at 6-foot-1, 228 pounds with LSU.
The nickname took hold during White's incredible home run barrage at the beginning of his college career, which included a three-homer performance in his first NCAA game.
He had a memorable walk-off moment
White found himself in a situation last season that most baseball fans probably envisioned for themselves while playing in the backyard or garage as a child:
Bottom of the 11th. Score tied. Winner advances. Loser goes home. And you come through with a walk-off home run to win the series.
LSU and Wake Forest went scoreless through the first 10 1/2 innings of their 2023 Men's College World Series game that would send the winner to the finals. With no out and a runner at first, White stepped to the plate, admittedly nervous.
"I was shaking, man. I was so nervous," he said on the Mik'd Up podcast.
But White fought off the nerves, pounced on the first pitch he saw and bashed it into the left-field seats to lift the Tigers to the finals, where they beat Florida to capture the team's seventh national championship.
He's got a singular look
Home runs and a fun nickname aren't the only reasons why White is a fan favorite. He simply looks like few others on the diamond.
He sports a mullet, a bevy of gold chains, thick eye black and a full beard.
It's a look that has been imitated by LSU fans and seems ready-made for some sort of future promotion from White's MLB team.
One young fan named Bryce dressed up as White during the 2024 Southeastern Conference Tournament. When asked why White is his favorite player, Bryce responded: "I like him because he hits tanks."
He played hurt in 2023
White's first season at LSU included 24 homers, a 1.158 OPS, that memorable walk-off homer, a national title -- and a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He said he played the entire season with the injury, which kept him up until 3 a.m. on some nights because of the pain.
His defense was most affected; White said his shoulder would pop out of its socket when he raised his arm in the air, which made throwing across the diamond extremely painful.
“It popped out probably 20 times throughout the year," he said. "It even popped out during the dogpile [when LSU won the national championship]."
White said that by the time of last season's SEC Tournament, the injury was so bad that it kept him from catching up to high-velocity fastballs.
"I kind of just baited guys into throwing me offspeed pitches. ... I was a really good actor," he said.
White underwent surgery after the season and spent six months rehabbing. But if you look at his 2024 numbers, you wouldn't know that White is coming off of a major shoulder injury.
He almost quit baseball when he was 13
White is now one of the best amateur hitters in the nation. But almost 10 years ago, he wasn't hitting for much power and often found himself on the bench of his travel-ball team.
"I wasn't really hitting the ball that far," White said. "I was striking out a bunch. I just couldn't get used to the big fields. So, I was like, maybe this is it."
White said that when he was a kid, baseball was more of a hobby than a true love. He described himself as a "short pudgy kid and slow as hell." He then started doing workouts to gain strength, which included deadlifting.
"I was, like, 250 [pounds] at 15, 16 years old -- just massive," he said.
But that strength training paid off when he was asked to fill in on a travel team and started hitting balls a long way. He ended up making his high school varsity team as a freshman and soon turned into one of the top high school prospects.
"It's something that I wouldn't recommend, because it's dangerous for a baseball player," White said of his deadlifting. "But it's something that I look back on, and I'm like, 'Damn, that really made me really strong.'"
He tries to mimic Miggy
White grew up about 15 minutes from Tropicana Field and has called the Rays his favorite childhood team. He had season tickets in left field, which is how he became a fan of Carl Crawford.
But given White's ability to drive pitches out to all fields, it's no surprise that the player he likes to emulate made himself a likely Hall of Famer by doing just that: Miguel Cabrera.
"He was always a hitter I mimicked after," White said. "He had a lot of opposite-field power, which I try to do in my game. He plays the corners like myself, and he’s a big dude just that hits a lot of home runs. I’ve looked up to him in my career."