Alex White's third start with the Colorado Rockies was another rollercoaster, but at the end of the day I felt encouraged by what I saw, and congratulate him on his first victory in a Rockies uniform.
Here are the concerns so far:
1. For the second straight ROAD start, White was greeted by a lead-off home run. White's bread and butter is supposed to be his sinking action, so when the ball is leaving the yard you're rightfully alarmed. But, it's not unusual for sinkerballers to come out early in outing with too much energy, which leads to overthrowing, which leads to less sinking action.
The important thing to note is that as he goes along, the ball doesn't continue to fly out of the yard. So far he's done well in that regard. But obviously there's a ways to go in working through and past early mistakes.
2. Poor command has also been a problem. Again, this is unusual for White, because the scouting reports boast of his ability to pound the strike zone. Why that's not happening is a definite concern until it's cleared up, but my guess is it's simply a combination of nerves and possibly him lacking confidence in his stuff after getting roughed up early in games.
