White Makes MLB Debut

CLEMSON, S.C. – Former Tiger infielder Eli White (Easley, S.C.) made his major league debut with the Texas Rangers in a start in left field at the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

White became the 61st former Tiger to play in a major league game and sixth in 2020, joining Jeremy Beasley (Arizona Diamondbacks), Steven Duggar (San Francisco Giants), Mike Freeman (Cleveland Indians), Dominic Leone (Cleveland Indians) and Brad Miller (St. Louis Cardinals).

White is hitting .277 with 93 doubles, 20 triples, 29 homers, 159 RBIs, 246 runs, a .355 on-base percentage and 56 steals in 426 games in four minor league seasons (2016-19) with the Oakland Athletics (2016-18) and Texas Rangers (2019). He was traded to the Rangers in December 2018.

In his three seasons (2014-16) at Clemson, he hit .275 with 22 doubles, four triples, eight homers, 61 RBIs, 104 runs, a .375 on-base percentage and 36 steals in 153 games (133 starts).

During Clemson’s 2016 ACC championship season, White hit .272 with four homers, 30 RBIs and 24 steals. After the season, he was drafted in the 11th round (No. 322 overall) by the Athletics. He was also drafted in the 37th round in 2015 after his Third-Team All-ACC season as a sophomore, but elected to return for his junior season.

With White’s appearance in the majors on Tuesday, every Tiger team from 1974 to 2017 had at least one future major leaguer on its roster.