Left-handed pitching prospect Thomas White is dealing with a grade one strain of his right oblique that will preclude him from appearing in further Spring Training games, according to a report from Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Louis Addeo-Weiss of Fish On First added that, according to manager Clayton McCullough, White felt some discomfort during his spring debut and is facing a three to four week timeline before he can return to the mound.
It’s a disappointing setback for the 21-year-old, who was a first-round pick by the Marlins in the 2023 draft and in the years since then has risen to become one of the very best pitching prospects in the entire sport. After a strong season in the lower minors in 2024, White impressed in a big way across 21 starts during the 2025 campaign. He pitched well at High-A to open the season and quickly earned a promotion to Double-A, where he was utterly dominant with a 1.59 ERA in 45 1/3 innings of work across ten starts. He struck out a sensation 39.3% of his opponents against a 12.6% walk rate, leaving him with elite peripherals (2.24 FIP, 2.54 xFIP) to go with his impressive run prevention numbers.
That performance at Double-A earned White a brief look at Triple-A near the end of the season as well as an invite to big league camp this spring. White struggled in his spring debut, as he surrendered two runs on two hits and a walk while striking out just one in his lone inning of work. That performance was surely hampered by the oblique strain he’s now known to have been dealing with during that outing, and he’ll spend the rest of Spring Training focused on rehabbing that issue in hopes of being healthy not long after minor league games begin. While White was in camp with the Marlins, he never had an especially strong chance of cracking the Opening Day roster given that Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Max Meyer, Braxton Garrett, Chris Paddack, and Janson Junk at minimum are each ahead of him on the depth chart on the moment.
That will surely change at some point this season, provided White can stay healthy and build on last season. His two starts at Triple-A last year were a mixed bag; while he struck out an absurd 42.5% of his opponents at the level, he also walked an untenable 25%. Significant conclusions can’t be drawn from a sample size of less than two innings, of course, but White walked 13.6% of his opponents overall in the minors last year and will surely need to tighten up his control at least somewhat before he can break into the majors and fulfill his promise as a potential future front-of-the-rotation arm for the Marlins.
Throughout the season, White figures to be joined in the Triple-A rotation by fellow top prospect Robby Snelling, who split last year between Double- and Triple-A and also figures to be on the big league radar at some point this year. White and Snelling currently looked blocked in Miami at least on paper, but offseason trades of Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers helped to clear the deck for them somewhat, and the checkered injury histories of Garrett, Perez, and even Alcantara suggest that innings should be available for them once they’re ready to take the next step into the majors.
