Matt White (minor league pitcher)

White attended Waynesboro Area High School from 1993 to 1996[1] where he played four varsity sports and had a 0.79 earned run average as a baseball player.[2] During his senior year he posted a 10–1 record with an 0.63 ERA, allowing 21 hits and 37 baserunners.[3] Following the season he was named the high school baseball player of the year by USA Today,[4] Baseball America, the National High School Baseball Coaches Association[2] and Gatorade.[5][6][7]

After initially planning to attend Georgia Tech,[8] White was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 1996 amateur draft,[9] but his agent Scott Boras found a loophole that allowed White to become a free agent after the Giants failed to offer him a contract in the required 10-day time allotted.[2] He received a $10.2 million signing bonus (equivalent to $19 million in 2022) in 1996 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.[10][11] It was the largest bonus ever given to an amateur player.[2]

Before even making his professional debut with the Hudson Valley Renegades in 1997, Baseball America ranked him the sixth-best prospect in baseball.[12] Shoulder and back injuries limited White to 122 minor league games during his career. He never played in the major leagues and retired in 2006 with a career mark of 35–47 and a 4.64 earned run average.[8][13][14][15]

White was the only high school player invited to try out for the United States national baseball team for the 1996 Summer Olympics[2] but was the last player cut from the team.[16] He was selected to the 2000 Sydney Olympic team but suffered an injury prior to the games and was forced to return without participating.[8]

• Georgia Tech's bio page
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)