Q&A: Portales native helped build Dodgers

Portales native Logan White overcame some hardships early in life to be the man that he is today.

White, 55, is the San Diego Padres’ director of pro scouting, and has more than 30 years in the major leagues, dating back to the mid-1980s as a minor league baseball player.

After graduating from Portales High School in 1980, and then heading off to Western New Mexico University, White thought that he was on the fast track to being a MLB player. However, multiple injuries ended his career. After briefly returning home, White broke through as an area scout with the Baltimore Orioles.

Since then, White has pretty much held every front office position other than general manager over the years. Along the way, White had a successful 13-year run with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which included being responsible for drafting and helping to sign a number of the current Dodger players that can be seen in this year’s World Series — including pitcher Clayton Kershaw and outfielder Yasiel Puig.

The News: How often do you return to Portales, and what experiences growing up here have allowed you to become the person/scout you are today?

Logan White: I usually try to come back once a year because of my in-laws, and sometimes a couple times a year. It’s hard with my schedule, but I always love coming back here. There’s been a lot of things that have helped me have the career that I have had. I worked on a lot of farms and ranches — I worked for such wonderful people. It really helped me develop a strong work ethic and it gave me the ability to be in different environments and do well adjusting to those new places.

When you work on a farm and your tractor breaks down, you find yourself trying to analyze your cattle and horses — there’s a lot of similarities to scouting. I also had a lot of caring teachers and coaches over the years that really looked out for me and really helped me along the way (as well).

TN: When did you know you wanted to be a scout?

LW: I grew up really poor, but I was competitive and driven. I always wanted to be a Major League player, and I really thought I could do it. Unfortunately, an arm injury and shoulder surgery happened, and I couldn’t come back from it. After I quit playing, I wanted to be far away from baseball for a year or two, so even though the Seattle Mariners (the team that drafted White) offered me a pitching coach job after my playing career ended, I said no.

To be honest, when I was younger, if you would have told me I was gonna be a scout, I would have said no way. I ended up going back to Eastern (New Mexico University) to get a master’s degree in teaching, and I taught junior high at Portales for a year-and-a-half. But eventually, I missed the game too much and I was told about a scouting job with the Baltimore Orioles, so I called blindly and got hired.

TN: What are your thoughts on the World Series (between the LA Dodgers and Houston Astros)?

LW: I’m obviously rooting for the Dodgers. A lot of them lived with me, and (closer) Kenley Jansen is basically my son. The Dodgers have great ownership and I’m rooting for them this year, because next year, look out for the Padres. You get to know the players personally, and you always root for them.

TN: You drafted Clayton Kershaw — who some say is the greatest pitcher of his generation, seventh overall in the 2006 MLB First-Year Player Draft. What did you see in him then, and are you surprised by just how successful he’s become?

LW: No, not surprised. When I went to see him pitch, my gut instinct was telling me that this guy’s unbelievable. He had one of the strongest arms I’ve ever seen, so it’s not surprising. Once we got him into the system, his work ethic proved to be the best I’ve ever seen. His focus and preparation are just unbelievable. He’s a nice guy, but he has just enough meanness on the mound.

The funny thing is, I stayed up the night before (the 2006 draft), praying that he’d fall to us. Kansas City and Detroit were both ahead of us and looking at him, and I tried not to show my cards that I wanted him so bad.

Right before the draft, his agent asked me what I thought of him, and I said, “I’d take him with our 26th pick.” Then we drafted him seventh and the agent says to me, “I thought you didn’t want him at seven?” So I said to him, “I didn’t say I didn’t want him at seven, I just said I would draft him if he were available at 26.”

TN: Despite Kershaw’s regular season greatness (three Cy Young awards, a National League MVP award and five ERA titles in 10 years), he’s struggled in the postseason (7-7, 4.21 ERA in 22 games). Why do you think that is the case?

LW: I think it’s that the postseason is such a short time frame, and I think the biggest thing is that Clayton’s always been the workhorse. All of those 200-plus inning regular seasons (are tough) and he’s human, so he’s gonna be a little fatigued on short rest. When I was there, we needed him to pitch eight or nine great innings because of our bullpen.

But what I like about the Dodgers this year is that they’re only asking him to go five or six innings, and believe it or not, Clayton actually has more quality starts (six-plus innings, three or less earned runs) than other pitchers who are really great in the playoffs, like Madison Bumgarner (of the San Francisco Giants).

TN: You joined the Padres in 2015. Talk about the organization’s progress thus far, and where do you expect them to be in five years?

LW: I think that we wanted to try to put a winning product on the field that first year, because our pitching was so good. We went out and acquired some veterans, and when that didn’t work out, we said that we’d go into a rebuild. We essentially had plans A, B and C. The Padres are such a great organization with great ownership, and we’re trying to build our team a lot like the Dodgers. We have great young prospects like Fernando Tatis, who we acquired in the James Shields trade (during that first year).

Our farm system is actually deeper than any time that I was with the Dodgers. We have a lot of good arms and a lot of good people within our organization. If you look at any team in the postseason, or even the World Series with the Dodgers and Astros, those teams are all homegrown guys (and that’ll be key for us to be successful going forward).

TN: You are a little different than a lot of front office personnel, in that you still believe in more of the traditional scouting methods, as opposed to being all about analytics. Talk about the effectiveness of analytics in your eyes, and what do you think the future of baseball scouting looks like?

LW: The stereotypes in the industry are that ‘You’re a baseball guy,’ but I actually started using what I call “statistical data” very early on. For example, the data said that college players are more successful in the Majors than high school guys. However, that’s not true — you’d have like 600 college guys drafted, compared to 300 high school guys, and we found out when we were drafting that high school guys made a huge impact.

Analytics have evolved and have become more accurate over the years. We’ve found a huge value to it, but where I differ from some is I’m a firm believer that you still need a guy on the ground to go to the games and see the players firsthand. I worry about the future of scouting because even though there will always be scouts, you worry that they’ll get lost in the shuffle.

With me, it’s tough to be successful without the human element involved. The numbers are a start, but if you don’t like (a player), why don’t you like him? I want to know, and I find that it’s best to separate the analytics guys and the scouts. Let them focus on just that job, and then I bring them together and try to figure out what we should do, after looking at things from all angles.

TN: What is your greatest accomplishment and what would you still like to do with your career?

LW: Probably being able to take a tough childhood, to being able to return to baseball after taking time away from the game and having the career that I have now. I had a great mother and great people that helped me along the way, and I think being able to mentor younger scouts and help them grow was very important.

As for what I have to accomplish, being a GM is the farthest thing from my mind. I want to help contribute to the Padres winning a World Series, and help them get their first-ever title. That’s my obsession — I don’t care what my job title is.