Reds Designate Owen White For Assignment

The Reds announced that they have designated right-hander Owen White for assignment. That opens a roster spot for left-hander Taylor Rogers, who has now been officially acquired from the Giants.

White, 25, has never suited up for the Reds. He was drafted by the Rangers and spent his entire career in that organization until they designated him for assignment last month. The Reds acquired him in early January, sending cash considerations to Texas, but have now quickly bumped him off the roster. He will be in DFA limbo for a week at most, during which time the Reds will see if they can trade him or pass him through waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours so any trade talks would need to come together in the next five days.

It’s certainly possible other clubs are interested, just as the Reds were, hoping for a bounceback. White’s recent results haven’t been great but he is not too far removed from being one of the top pitching prospects in the game.

The Rangers took him with a second-round pick in 2018, though Tommy John surgery and the pandemic pushed his professional debut to 2021. Once able to take the hill in the minors, he put up good numbers. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he threw 115 2/3 innings, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. His 34.1% strikeout rate was huge, while his 7.5% walk rate was also a strong mark.

He was a consensus top 100 prospect going into 2023 but his stock has been sliding since then. He pitched seven big league innings for the Rangers over the past two years, but allowed 13 earned runs, giving him a nauseating 16.71 ERA at the moment. That’s obviously a tiny sample size but his minor league work has also been unimpressive. In 151 1/3 Triple-A innings over the past two years, he has a 5.41 ERA. That was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but his 17.4% strikeout rate and 11.7% walk rate were also rough numbers, suggesting it wasn’t just the environment.

For what it’s worth, the Rangers tried a bullpen move partway through 2024, with some mixed results. In 18 innings over his final 13 appearances of the year, he struck out 25.6% of batters faced. His 5.50 ERA and 12.8% walk rate in that time weren’t good numbers but the uptick in punchouts was maybe something.

White still has one option year remaining, so an acquiring club could perhaps use the 2025 to experiment without having to put him in the big leagues. It’s possible there are some clubs who would like to put him back in a starting role to chase his previous upside or others who would see an intriguing path forward in the bullpen. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he’ll stick with the Reds as non-roster depth. He’ll know in the next week whether that’s his fate or if he’s destined to join a new club yet again.