Eli White

Elijah Thomas White

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 195 lb.
• School Clemson University
• High School Wren High School
• Debut September 1, 2020

• Born June 26, 1994 in Greenville, SC USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Eli White turned out to be the hero of the MLB Speedway Classic that was staged in Bristol, TN on August 2, 2025 and set an all-time attendance record for a regular season game. He was only in the starting line-up that day because regular RF Ronald Acuña Jr. had just been placed on the injured list with a calf strain a few days earlier, but after the game was suspended by rain in the bottom of the 1st and resumed on the afternoon of August 3rd, he hit a three-run homer off Brent Suter of the Cincinnati Reds in the top of the 2nd, and then added an insurance run with another homer, this one off Scott Barlow, to lead off the 7th inning, as the Atlanta Braves won, 4-2. It was only the second multiple-homer game of his career, the first having come in 2021, when he was a member of the Texas Rangers, and the first time he had collected four RBIs in a game.

White was drafted three different times, in 2013, 2015 and 2016. The third time was by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round, out of Clemson University. On December 21, 2018, he was included in a three-team trade that also involved the Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays, that saw a total of seven players changing teams in addition to international bonus money. The biggest names in that trade were Emilio Pagan and Jurickson Profar, and Eli ended up with Texas, with which he made his major league debut during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He hit .188 in 18 games that first year, and .177 and .200 the next two as he was mainly used as a defensive replacement in the outfield by Texas. During those three seasons, he built a reputation as an outstanding defensive outfielder, but one who could not hit enough to get regular at bats in the Show.

He was purchased by Atlanta in January of 2023 but only went 1 for 14 in 6 games that season, spending most of the year in the minors. It was more of the same in 2024, with 35 major league games, although he surprised by batting .282 with an OPS+ of 113. That earned him a spot on the postseason roster and he appeared in one game in the Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres, but did not have a plate appearance. In 2025, with Acuña unavailable at the start of the season, he and Alex Verdugo made the team out of spring training as replacements, and he ended up outplaying Verdugo so he remained with the team when Acuña was ready to return at the end of May while Verdugo was let go.

Further Reading

• Mark Bowman: "White (2 HRs), Waldrep put Braves in victory lane at Speedway Classic", mlb.com, August 3, 2025. [1]

Related Sites

• Eli White on mlb.com