Former Kentucky All-American Evan White was golden in his rookie season with the Seattle Mariners.
The star first baseman was named the American League Rawlings Gold Glove winner on Tuesday, becoming the first rookie first baseman in either league to win a Gold Glove since the award began in 1957 and the second rookie in Mariners history to be selected at any position, along with Ichiro in 2001.
White is the second former UK star to win a major league Gold Glove. Second baseman Doug Flynn won in 1980 with the New York Mets.
According to FanGraphs, White led AL first basemen with seven defensive runs saved, two ahead of Olson. He also was first in out of zone plays with 11 and scoops with seven, while his UZR of 2.2 was second to Olson’s 2.5. White’s .998 fielding percentage was just fractions of a point behind fellow finalists Yuli Gurriel of the Astros and Olson, who both also rounded out at .998, and he ended the season with 49 consecutive games without an error in 363 total chances.
It was a big year for White, who signed a six-year Major League contract with the Mariners, with a guaranteed value at $24 million with three team option years at the end of the deal. He is signed through 2025 with the options running through 2028.
The Gahanna, Ohio native had a celebrated three-year career at Kentucky that saw him win a pair of Rawlings Gold Glove awards, earn All-America and All-Southeastern Conference honors and play for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. He was selected 17th overall in the 2017 MLB Draft, making him the second-highest pick ever out of UK.
White was considered one of the top talents in college baseball, an offensive force who also possesses elite defensive skills. He was a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist in 2017 and a three-time member of the All-SEC Defensive Team. He also helped guide the program to its first Super Regional appearance in 2017.
White’s career numbers rank amongst the most impressive in Kentucky history. He has 233 career hits, the fourth most on the school’s all-time list and the most for a player in his first three seasons. His career .356 batting average in fifth on the all-time UK list and the 51 doubles he has clubbed are the fourth most for a UK player.
In 2017, White returned from early groin and hamstring issues and immediately resumed terrorizing opposing pitchers. He hit a team-high .373, making him the first player since Josh Loggins in 1997-98 to lead the Wildcats in hitting in back-to-back seasons. White’s 24 doubles are the second most in a single-season, while adding a career-high 10 home runs to fuel a .627 slugging percentage.
For his career, White had 74 multi-hit games and two hitting streaks of at least 20 games. He recorded 21 games of at least three hits, never went three consecutive games without a hit and only twice had back-to-back games without a hit. Showing the ability to make adjustments, White also had 70 two-strike hits in his career.
During the summer of 2016, he was selected to play for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, starting 15 of 19 games in the club’s tour around the globe as both a first baseman and outfielder. He’s also a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member.