The Blue Jays signed first baseman Tyler White and outfielder Forrest Wall to minor league contracts, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (Twitter link). Both players have been invited to Toronto’s big league spring training camp.
White returns to North American baseball after a brief stint with the KBO League’s SK Wyverns last season. He appeared in only nine games and posted a .685 OPS over 30 plate appearances. A well-regarded hitting prospect when coming up in the Astros’ farm system, White has a career .305/.404/.509 slash line over 2,249 PA in the minors and certainly seemed on the verge of breaking through at the MLB level when he hit .277/.349/.531 for over 304 PA with Houston during the 2017-18 seasons. However, after struggling badly in 2019 and being caught in something of a position crunch, White was dealt to the Dodgers in July 2019.
There isn’t much risk for the Jays in seeing if White can unlock any hitting potential at age 30. Playing time may be hard to come by with Toronto since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Rowdy Tellez are slated for first base/DH duties, but White could find some at-bats spelling Tellez against southpaws (though Tellez has a higher career OPS against left-handed pitching than White).
Wall is back with the Jays after electing free agency following the season. Picked 35th overall by the Rockies in the 2014 draft, Wall has yet to crack the big leagues, though he has hit a respectable .274/.353/.413 over 2,329 PA in the Colorado and Toronto farm systems. A strong spring training could give Wall a shot at unseating Jonathan Davis or Derek Fisher as the Blue Jays’ top backup outfield options.
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