2024 Braves Season in Review: Eli White

In a year when he was also named Gwinnett’s Most Valuable Player, Eli White found a semi-consistent role at the major league level as a defensive replacement.

Amid the chaos that was Atlanta’s 2024 season, Eli White got a shot to contribute at the major league level. Did he actually take that shot and contribute? Well, sorta, but he was never really given an opportunity to be a full everyday player.

How acquired

A product of Clemson like teammate Spencer Strider, White was selected in the 11^th round of the 2016 draft by the Athletics. He was traded to the Rangers in 2018 as part of the Jurickson Profar and Emilio Pagan deal, and the Braves acquired him for cash considerations in the early days of 2023. He was released briefly that July after suffering a shoulder injury, but quickly re-signed to a minor league contract, and has bounced between Gwinnett and Atlanta ever since — ultimately sticking a bit in the latter as 2024 unfolded, making the short-lived playoff roster, to boot.

What were the expectations?

White’s value has always been primarily in his speed and defense, so the expectation was that he would provide outfield depth and serve as a reliable pinch runner. Actually, “primarily” is a bit of a soft sell, as White had a career 53 wRC+ coming into 2024, never putting up a single-season xwOBA above .300. The Braves were probably intrigued by his 2022, where he put up 0.6 fWAR in 117 PAs with a 66 wRC+, which seems almost impossible — but they didn’t give him much of a shot in 2023 for obvious reasons, and he had a pretty average batting line in Gwinnett that year, so the hope that he’s going to suddenly figure out offensively just keeps dimming. Basically, he was expected to be a replacement-level guy with some very good stuff in his profile (the stuff that isn’t hitting) and some very awful stuff (hitting).

Even so, one might have expected that White would have been given more opportunities than he ultimately was with the number of injuries that befell the Braves’ roster in 2024, but more on that later.

2024 results

After being called up for the first time in July, White saw action in 35 games at the MLB level, largely as a late-game defensive replacement for Jorge Soler. Still, he logged some time at all three outfield positions. In those games, he totaled 42 PAs and a career-high (can I say that with such a small sample size?) .769 OPS and 114 wRC+, with one double, one triple, and his first homer as a Brave being the highlights of his 11 hits. He only walked once and struck out 12 times, and he added three stolen bases.

On the minor league side, he had quite the year, and he was rewarded for his performance by being named Gwinnett’s Most Valuable Player. He hit .290 with an .825 OPS in 340 PAs, with eight homers and 24 steals. Perhaps the peak of his year in Triple-A came in the Stripers’ 21-6 rout of the St. Paul Saints in early July (he was called up just a few days later). White became the first player in Gwinnett history to tally six hits in one game, as he went 6-for-7 with two doubles, two home runs, and seven driven in — and his last hit of the night was a grand slam in the ninth. His 14 bases were also a Stripers club record, and he was just the third to put together four extra-base hits in one game.

What went right

A big positive of 2024 for White is that after spending a large portion of 2023 on the Injured List, he only had one brief stint there in 2024, which is remarkable considering the team’s vibes at large. In staying healthy, he had a few bright spots that proved his worth as a defender and a runner.

One of those notable moments was this catch in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game against the Giants, robbing Patrick Bailey of extra bases.

On the basepaths, White’s biggest major league highlight came on September 8 in an important extra-innings walkoff win over the Blue Jays. He led off the bottom of the eleventh with a bunt single that advanced the freely-granted runner to third, moved to third on a throwing error that Harris II scored on, and scored the game’s winning run on this bleeder from Sean Murphy:

Here’s that bunt, by the way. Yes, a Braves bunt highlight, don’t say we never do anything for you:

White also started the infamous rally in the bottom of the eighth in that first game of the September 30 Mets doubleheader, earning a leadoff HBP that turned into the inning’s first run, but the Braves famously went on to lose that one. Nevertheless, it was yet another productive, if nontraditionally so, PA.

Those things aside, one of the things that turned out well for White was a massive xwOBA overperformance in his 42 PAs — very contrary to what happened to the team. White had a .335 wOBA (good!) despite a .275 xwOBA (very bad, and consistent with his career). That’s the sort of thing that happens in small samples, and White actually benefited.

What went wrong

Truly, it feels like the lack of opportunities with the Braves was White’s biggest kryptonite this year (although his xwOBA overperformance was more likely to evaporate with more playing time) In a season where Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II spent a ton of time on the shelf, Jarred Kelenic ended up struggling mightily, and Soler was a defensive liability at best, it felt like White should have had the chance to make a splash. However, that never really panned out. White’s xwOBA was still a bummer, but he hit okay at Gwinnett, and given the value suck the Braves ran out there instead (namely Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall combining for -1.7 fWAR in about 400 PAs), and it’s unfortunate that he still wasn’t given much of a chance to prove his reputation on offense wrong while the major league lineup was either a revolving door or pit of despair. He at least would’ve been likely to provide good defense, which isn’t something you can say for every guy the Braves threw out there this year.

Something funny about White’s season was that he avoided any particularly bad WPA games, which is maybe a little hard to do when you don’t actually hit well. He had a pretty rough start to his season, going 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in his first two games, and those two games were his worst WPA games of the year, but there was little remarkable in them: he struck out in his last two PAs in his season debut, including a strikeout looking to end the game, and had this sad popout in his next game:

2025 outlook

White is up for arbitration this offseason, and was one of three that the Braves spared —along with Dylan Lee and Jarred Kelenic — from the non-tender deadline cuts that happened on November 22. MLB Trade Rumors and Matt Swartz’ model project a modest 2025 arbitration-eligible salary for White of $800,000, just barely above league minimum, which makes sense given that he really hasn’t done anything in the majors to date.

It will be interesting to see what role materializes for White in 2025. He played shortstop at Clemson before his speed led to an outfield conversion at the professional level. Part of me wonders if it wouldn’t have been worthwhile to let him see real time in the infield with the injury woes of 2024.

Of course, the Braves do have some questions to answer in terms of the outfield going into 2025, and if they choose to answer one of those questions with an internal option, it may be time to see if White or Kelenic can really emerge as a consistent producer. (They could also theoretically platoon, but that may be a pretty upside-limited platoon…) One thing that will certainly be different in White’s 2025 is that he’s now out of options, so the up-and-down nature of his time with Atlanta thus far will be over. Whether that plays into his favor, we’ll see.

White is projected as a generic bench player by Steamer, but amusingly, as an above-average producer, at least on a rate basis, by ZiPS, which has him as an elite defender with bad-but-not-as-awful-as-his-career-has-been hitting.