Former Dodgers Pitcher Traded for Now Top Prospect DFA’d By New Team

The Los Angeles Dodgers have spent a lot of money and made a lot of blockbuster trades over the last few seasons to get to where they are today. But they’ve also drafted and scouted as well as any team, and made trades on the margins that have allowed them to thrive both in the major and minor leagues.

One of those trades came two years ago, when the team traded former top pitching prospect Mitch White at the 2022 trade deadline. The Dodgers traded the right-handed pitcher — despite him contributing to the MLB roster ahead of a postseason run — to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for two prospects. One of those prospects was left-handed pitcher Moises Brito, who had a dominant 2023 season in the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Complex League. The other was right-handed pitcher Nick Frasso, who is now the Dodgers’ No. 2 prospect, per MLB Pipeline . He was ranked as the No. 3 prospect in Dodgers Nation’s preseason rankings.

So why am I bringing this trade up now?

Well, on Tuesday, the Blue Jays designated White for assignment.

White was ranked as high as the No. 4 prospect in the Dodgers’ organization in 2018, per MLB Pipeline. He finally made his MLB debut in 2020 with Los Angeles, and ended up making 36 appearances across 2021 and 2022 for L.A.

White was looking like a worthy successor to Ross Stripling in the hybrid starter/reliever role, when he made 15 appearances (10 starts) and had a 3.70 ERA in 56 innings. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Dodgers, who were counting on him as a swingman, sent him to Toronto.

In Toronto, White was never able to figure things out.

In 2022, he made 10 appearances (eight starts) for the Blue Jays, and had a 7.74 ERA in 43 innings.

In 2023, he made another 10 appearances, this time all in relief, and had a 7.11 ERA in 12.2 innings.

And now, in 2024, White made four relief appearances, and had a 5.40 ERA in 10 innings.

As for Frasso, he’s out for the entire 2024 season with a torn labrum , but he could play a key role for the Dodgers as soon as 2025.

Frasso had a 3.77 ERA in 25 starts across Double-A and Triple-A last year, with an impressive 107 strikeouts in 93 innings.

Frasso was drafted by the Blue Jays in the fourth round of the 2020 draft, and then underwent Tommy John surgery. He only ranked as high as the Blue Jays No. 25 prospect in 2021, but the Dodgers have been able to turn him into a top pitching prospect in all of Major League Baseball.

These are the type of trades that look strange in the moment, but in the future, they pay off in spades. It took this one less than two years to prove to be a big win for the Dodgers. Dodger fans will hope for a similar future impact with the recent Michael Busch trade.

Photo Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

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