Brendan White had always been a starting pitcher prior to being drafted by the Tigers in the 26th round back in 2019.
In Rookie ball two years ago he came out of the bullpen before making a handful of starts late in the year.
When the Siena College product got to West Michigan to start this season, he once again found himself as a reliever.
Just over a month ago, White joined the Whitecaps starting rotation.
"I don't know what's led to all the back and forth because all that comes from the top," White said. "All I know is I was always comfortable being a starter and that is what I did in school."
While the timing of White learning he was going back to being a starter was unique, he was happy to hear it.
"It was actually in the middle of one of my relief outings, they told me they were interested in making me a starter so they were going to continue to push me and send me out for a couple more innings then what I would be used to. In that moment it was kind of fun, kind of like what's going on, I'm already throwing right now, you guys are going to put this on me now," White said with a laugh. "It's been fun. I was definitely excited to get back in the rotation."
White's comfort as a starter has showed.
He has 3.26 earned average in eight starts compared to an e.r.a over five out of the pen.
In June, White made four starts allowing just one earned run in 19 innings and was named the Tigers minor league pitcher of the month.
"It was awesome," White said. "It was a lot of fun especially because I felt good about that month and it was nice to get recognized by the organization."
White's been using his sinker more now that he is starting again, but it is his slider that has always allowed him to get hitters to whiff the most.
"My slider has been, I think one of the reasons that I got drafted," White said. "I was able to get a lot more strikeouts in college and it is something that I get a lot of swing and misses on or weak contact on so pairing my sinker and slider have been probably the most influential pitches that I have and the most important pitches that I throw."
White and the Whitecaps will welcome the Lansing Lugnuts to LMCU Ballpark for six games starting Tuesday.