Noble Meyer, Thomas White learning quickly, growing as teammates

[Alex Carver]

The latest on the Marlins’ top two prospects, their budding relationship as teammates, analysis of their latest spring outings, and their thoughts on the upcoming Spring Breakout game.

JUPITER, FL—Despite being two of the top high school arms in the country, Noble Meyer and Thomas White had never met before the 2023 MLB Draft. Since being selected 10th and 35th overall by the Marlins, in less than eight months, the pair has become nearly inseparable.

Walking through Marlins’ minor league camp, Meyer and White are very regularly seen shoulder to shoulder. After practices and outings, Meyer and White are quickly side by side again as they trek back to the Marlins’ clubhouse. The two teenagers even wait for one another as one may to sign interact with fans or speak with reporters. During their conversations, they break down their days and give one another advice about both baseball and continuing to grow up with the game in their first full year pro.

White foresees his early connection with Meyer turning into a long and fortuitous relationship.

“It’s going to be really fun going through all the levels with him,“ White said. “It’s almost like having a brother, going through all the levels. It’s really good to have someone my age and my experience level.”

“I love him,” White added. "He’s a great guy, a great dude, obviously a great player. It’s perfect.”

Meyer greatly admires his 6’5” teammate and remains in awe of White’s athleticism and work ethic.

“He’s a freak of nature,” Meyer said of White’s skill level. “He has the greatest flexibility and mobility I’ve seen in any pitcher. He’s a workhorse. He’s constantly working at something. Just insane. I have nothing but good things to say about him.”

Meyer and White have a very good chance of remaining close to each other and building their relationship even more in 2024. We project them both to start the season back at the Low-A level with Jupiter.

 

Latest outings

Both White and Meyer threw for opposite Marlins scrimmage teams this past Saturday. They were stretched out to four innings or 65 pitches, the longest either pitcher has gone so far this spring.

White was absolutely dominant, overpowering Low-A and High-A caliber players, nearly all of which were his elder. Using all three of his pitches, White struck out five of the first seven batters he faced. All in all, he got rolled just once over his four frames and allowed just two hits. It was a confidence builder for the young lefty, facing his elder teammates multiple times.

“It’s good to know that your stuff can play, even with some older guys,” White said. “It’s good to see and good to have that same battle as they come up a second time when they know what to look for and have a better approach.”

One focal point for White has been placing his fastball up with consistent control and command. In this outing, he was seen doing so multiple times both in and out of the strike zone with purpose. The 96+ mph offering placed there accosted him multiple whiffs.

“The ability to go up in the zone especially because I have so much ride on my fastball, getting outs up there is going to be key this year,” White said. “If I have that opportunity, I can get some ugly swings up there.”

White’s bread-and-butter pitch is his curveball, which registers nearly 20 mph slower velocity-wise than his heater. At its best, the pitch holds sharp downward action and White can place it on both sides of the plate. It is already currently a 50-grade pitch with room for improvement. This spring he’s worked on improving the consistency of the spin and command as well as the confidence he has with the offering.

“It’s getting a lot better. The ability to throw it for strikes and just trust the way it’s gonna break the way I want it to,” White said of his progression with the hook. “In high school, sometimes I babied it a little bit; not sure what it was gonna do, but I really started to figure that out in the offseason. Throwing both that and the changeups in any count is really what my focus was.”

On the opposite end, for Meyer, he didn’t have his best stuff at the start of his day. Struggling with some command and control issues, Meyer got into some early deep counts including an exceptionally long battle with Jordan McCants. Both of his first two innings were ended early by coaching. Meyer allowed four walks while striking out one. He also threw two wild pitches. However, he was able to end his day on a positive note, retiring four of his last five hitters. Breaking down his day after his outing, Meyer remarked on his vivacity early in the outing as the reason for some struggles.

“It was more about the energy I brought; the first two innings were a little slow. I felt like I already had it done; just trying to go through the motions. Then in the 3rd, after I got rolled twice, I told myself to just wake up. I just tried to throw it right by everybody and that seemed to click.”

“The first two innings were terrible, really. And then after that, it turned into a pretty good outing.”

On what he can learn about a day where he didn’t have his best at all times and on how he can grow after such an experience in spring training, Meyer stated his biggest lesson learned was to approach each day with more solidified intent.

“If you come into this just trying to go through the motions, I’m not going to be prepared for when the season hits,” Meyer said. “Just bringing the energy every day and just really get after it because this is the time I need to use to get better for the season.”

During his first pro summer, Meyer was never tasked with going beyond 3 ⅔ innings in any outing. It's encouraging to hear that he felt comfortable with the added length entering a season where his workload will undoubtedly increase.

“The length wasn’t an issue,” Meyer said. “I feel great. I carried my strength through the 4th inning.”

 

Next up

White and Meyer will take the mound on Friday in the inaugural Spring Breakout game. They, along with 24 other top Marlins prospects, will take on some of the top names in the St Louis Cardinals’ system.

White has the honors of starting the game for the Marlins and he's looking forward to the opportunity.

“I’m really pumped, really excited to get into a big stadium and have a bit of a crowd, I think it’s gonna be awesome,” White said.

Meyer shared similar feelings of excitement and didn’t shy away from the possibility of facing off against the best of the best the Cardinals have to offer, including their top prospect.

“I’ve seen about the matchup between me and Masyn Winn,” Meyer said. “I’ve gotten to follow his journey the past couple years so I’m really excited for that. He’s a really good ball player. I’m excited to see that 80 [grade] arm in person.”

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