Marlins' rising ace Thomas White rejects complacency, bulking up and picking brains for MLB stardom. His drive fuels a promising future.
Nobody would blame Miami Marlins prospect Thomas White for being impatient.
After all, the biggest day of his professional life is only months away, so it’d only be human nature for White to struggle keeping his composure until then.
But White, the No. 17 overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com, didn’t let himself be distracted over the offseason, and in fact, went into it with a bit of a chip on his shoulder because of the way last year ended.
Overall, White had a good year in 2025, starting the season in A and ending in AAA.
Still, he didn't think he pitched as well as his numbers indicated (10-8, 2.65 ERA across all levels).
In particular, White was dissatsfied with his last six starts, which is interesting, since he posted a 1.55 ERA over 29 innings in those games.
If success is getting to White's head, he's doing a good job of hiding it.
Instead, he kept up the same work habits that made him one of baseball’s top prospects.
One thing that White worked on this offseason was gaining weight.
When White was coming into the draft in 2023, he was 210 pounds. He told media at spring training Thursday that he now weighs "maybe 248" pounds, which is about as big as he wants to be.
With the mission of gaining bulk accomplished -- which could help him throw even harder, White has time to get to know some of his future teammates.
"I'm just going to try to meet as many guys as I can," White said. "I feel like I know most of the minor-league guys now, but I don't know many of the big-leaguers. So just try to pick everybody's brain, try to learn something from everybody."
One player that White has gotten to talk to is Sandy Alcántara, who won a Cy Young Award while White was still in high school.
Although White is eager to learn from Alcántara and the rest of Miami's rotation, he said he's also looking to talk to Miami's hitters about their approach at the plate to see if that can help him decipher how opposing hitters think.
He'll get to test himself against those hitters later this month, when the Marlins start playing exhibition games, as will fellow highly touted prospect Robby Snelling (No. 39 on MLB.com), who White lives with.
The Marlins are expecting to have both White and Snelling in the majors in 2026, along with top catching prospect Joe Mack (No. 62), who White said Thursday was the best defensive catcher in minor-league baseball.
Miami has a bright future, and if White can become an impact starter as a rookie, that future might involve the team making the playoffs in 2026.
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