In Eli White’s mind, the rookie outfielder finally completed his MLB debut in a sense, in his eighth MLB game. It took 19 MLB at-bats for the speedster to get his first big league hit. And it finally came in the fifth inning Wednesday night, a game-tying RBI double to the left-field corner in a 7-3 Rangers win.
“It’s a childhood dream of mine, obviously, to play in the big leagues,” White said after the game. “But, you know, it doesn’t really feel complete until you get your first hit.”
White had been hitting balls hard on a consistent basis. He had six hard-hit balls, according to FanGraphs, but nothing that skidded past an infielder or landed somewhere uncatchable.
The Rangers view White’s defense as on par, if not better than center fielder Leody Taveras. He might be the fastest player in the organization. But even with the hard hits and speed, it was just taking a while for White to get that first hit.
“Oh my gosh,” manager Chris Woodward said after he registered the knock. “I think everybody in the organization was relieved. The kid has been doing everything you could possibly do to get a hit without getting one. You’ve seen people have bad luck, but never to really start a career like that.”
White was a career .277 hitter in the minor leagues, and did hit .306 in 2018 with Double-A Midland. He’s not a huge power hitter, but has a history of being able to reach base.
When that wasn’t happening in his start with the Rangers, Woodward made a point of reassuring White that he was still doing things the right way. But it wasn’t just Woodward. It was other coaches and players that helped keep White’s mind right as he battled through a poorly-timed stretch of misfortune.
“You have a lot of failures and a lot of successes in this game,” White said. “So that’s just part of it: learning to deal with those failures. I’d like to think that I’m better at handling stuff now than I was just a few years ago. So it’s kind of a constant growing process that you go through.”
White got the ball shortly after the game ended. He didn’t have any grand plans for it. Probably frame it and put it on a banister or a bookshelf.
More importantly than celebrating his first hit, though, is making sure he keeps getting more hits. And that he shows he’s more than just his defense and his speed. But someone that can get on base and produce.
“You’ve just got to keep having good approach, and doing what you can do,” White said. “You can’t control if they catch it, but you can control if you swing at strikes and hit the ball hard. So that’s all I was trying to do.”
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The Link LonkSeptember 11, 2020 at 03:17AM
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/2020/09/10/after-hard-outs-and-tough-luck-rangers-of-eli-white-exhales-following-1st-mlb-hit/
After hard outs and tough luck, Rangers OF Eli White exhales following first MLB hit - The Dallas Morning News
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