Scottsdale, Ariz. -- When the Colorado Rockies selected outfielder Max White in the second round of 2012's MLB Draft out of a high school in Williston, Florida, they probably didn't count on him spending three consecutive years in Low-A Asheville, especially as a left-handed hitter with a favorable home short porch at the town's historic McCormick Field.
And yet here we are, 246 games and 973 plate appearances later, with White (likely) having finally graduated from Asheville after three cracks at the South Atlantic League. The lefty swinger's first two go-rounds in 2013 and 2014 weren't so good. In 2015, despite starting in extended spring training and missing part of the season with an injury, White was downright dominant at the plate—and he was eight months younger than his average opponent, so he hasn't lost as much time as you might expect during his holding pattern in the mountains of western North Carolina.
White was productive across all fronts in 2015, slashing .306/.425/.524 in 71 games (248 at-bats) with Asheville. He filled up every box on the stat column, too, adding 13 doubles, 7 triples, 9 home runs, 47 walks and 34 stolen bases in the first solid season he's put together across four minor league summers.
This spring, he's been working out with the High-A Modesto group, which would make sense as the Rockies have to hope he can make the jump to the California League. White won't turn 23 until after the season, so a full year as a 22-year-old in High-A still gives him a lot of time to have an impact later in his career at much higher levels of baseball.
That being said, the Rockies need to figure out if the Max White they have now will regress back to his 2012-2014 version, or continue developing off the 2015 player. It's natural that players mature as they go through pro baseball—Zach Jemiola harped on that multiple times when I spoke with him—so maybe those first three bad summers just showed White's growing pains. After all, he was a second round draft pick for a reason, and it could stand to reason he rises to the prospect radar at some point with another season as strong as last summer. Time, as it feels like I've been saying about so many players this spring, will tell.
Watch White in action at spring training in the video above; after batting practice, he gets two at-bats against minor league relievers Alec Kenilvort (see our interview with him here, too), and Christian Talley.
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