Watch White's 'phenomenal' rob of Arenado

SEATTLE -- Evan White has struggled at the plate in the first few weeks of his Major League career as he makes the adjustment after jumping from Double-A ball straight to the big leagues. But the Mariners first baseman has more than lived up to the hype over his defensive skills, and he displayed that outstanding glove again Saturday night.

With one out in the ninth in a 5-0 loss to the Rockies, the 24-year-old took off after a foul pop by Nolan Arenado that was slicing down the first base line in shallow right field. On a full sprint, White tracked the ball over his shoulder, extended his glove at the last second and made a sprawling catch as he rolled onto the warning track dirt in no-man’s land between second baseman Shed Long Jr. and right fielder Mallex Smith.

“Phenomenal play,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We all watch a lot of baseball throughout the years. The number of first basemen in this league that can make that kind of athletic play? First of all, even to get there. When you watch the replay you see the distance he traveled just to get there. And it’s always coming back at a weird angle off the foul lines in the big stadiums like this. It was a heck of a play. It’s as good a play on a popup as you’re going to see by a first baseman, ever.”

White has been making difficult plays look routine throughout the first two weeks of the season and providing a safety blanket at first base for his fellow infielders. And once or twice a game, he seems to pull out a “wow” play.

"Every night there’s something he does athletically, whether it’s his footwork around the bag, how soft his hands are picking throws out of the dirt, the range he has, how he throws,” Servais said. “It’s the whole package. It’s a lot of fun to watch and it’s going to be fun to watch here for many years to come.”

For longtime Mariners fans, White’s play hearkens back to defensive standout John Olerud, who won American League Gold Glove Awards in 2002-03. Servais didn’t play with Olerud and came up as a catcher in the National League, but he recalls some standouts from his own days.

“Of guys I played with, J.T. Snow was outstanding,” Servais said. “He could throw, great hands. Todd Helton was very good. Jeff Bagwell was outstanding. Before my time, Keith Hernandez was one of the guys that really stood out. There have been a number of great ones throughout the years and it’s going to be fun to see how Evan White stacks up when we look seven or eight years down the road.”

Nola gets another day off
Catcher Austin Nola was out of the lineup for a second straight day on Sunday to rest a bruised left thumb and wrist, though Servais said Nola could play if needed. Nola took a 95 mph fastball from rookie reliever Yohan Ramirez off the base of his hand when the two got their signals crossed up in Friday night's 8-4 loss.

“He’s still tender,” Servais said prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Rockies. “In an emergency, he could probably run in there. It’s not bothering him catching. But getting a bat in his hand and if you’ve had a hand issue like that, it’s the vibration. If you don’t hit it just square, you feel it a little bit. The right thing to do is give him another day, and he’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”

Extra work for Shed
As groundskeepers were cleaning up the field after Saturday’s 5-0 loss to Colorado, Long pulled a bucket of balls and a hitting tee out to home plate and asked them to leave the field for him to do some hitting. Long went 0-for-4 in a game where the Mariners managed just one hit, and his slash line sits at .200/.262/.300 in 65 plate appearances.

“He just wanted to hit with the lights on, I guess,” Servais said. “A lot of our younger guys are struggling. Sometimes, you just need to be alone with the tee out there, thoughts going through your mind. Doing it on the field, there’s a visual component to that.”

Long was out of the lineup Sunday, but Servais feels the young second baseman will be fine. After viewing the Mariners’ internal report card they use to rate their hitters’ approach, the manager said Saturday’s effort was better than the results showed in the box score.

“You look at our ‘Rake Report’ and what we track, it did not look like a game we only got one hit,” Servais said. “We hit a number of balls hard. Our swing decisions for the most part were pretty good. We just didn’t get the results we’re looking for. That will turn around and it’ll turn around for Shed, too.

“Shed has a lot of talent. He works hard and cares. He just needs a few to fall in and take off and run from there.”