TULSA, Okla. — Alex White despises compromise. At least on the mound.
The twin central figure in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade along with Drew Pomeranz, White pitched with conviction Thursday night, delivering the type of performance that could land him in the Rockies’ rotation for his next start.
Pomeranz set the bar high Wednesday, carrying a perfect game into the seventh inning. White karate chopped it, turning it in sawdust. The right-hander worked 7 2/3 innings, allowing just three hits with four strikeouts. All that was missing was a cowboy hat and toothpick.
“He’s a throwback guy. He pitches with his fastball and isn’t afraid of contact,” Tulsa manager Duane Espy said. “He can elevate it, sink it. He has a really good sense of how to take some off. He’s a strike-thrower, but you don’t where the strike is going to be.”
White, just 23, hasn’t pitched regularly since April because of a strained flexor tendon on his right middle finger, an identical injury suffered by the Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa.
He has built up arm strength through four starts with Double-A Tulsa. Rockies trainer Keith Dugger will evaluate White’s finger in Denver today. The right-hander will stay with the club and throw a bullpen session, and sometime this weekend a decision will be made if he joins the rotation.
The Rockies could go with a six-man staff or just have White take someone’s start next week.
“I feel strong. I could have thrown 20 more pitches. The key for me tonight was to get to the pitch count and pitch deep into the game,” said White, who was the 15th pick in the 2009 amateur draft.
He was rigid in his commitment to his fastball, working well with catcher Wilin Rosario, himself a potential September call-up. White impressed general manager Dan O’Dowd with his ability to locate the pitch inside. He threw 62 fastballs, adding, subtracting and cutting, creating a variance from 89 mph to 94 mph.
“He has great competitive instincts,” O’Dowd said. “He didn’t fear contact.”
The reason is simple: His fastball routinely misses the barrel. While comparisons have been made to Aaron Cook — who moved though the Rockies’ system with a heavy sinker — they aren’t facsimiles. White’s second-best pitch is a split-fingered changeup.
“His pitches have a lot of movement,” Drillers second baseman Thomas Field said. “That changeup is one of the best I have ever seen. I wouldn’t want to face it.”
White understands the importance of changing speeds. But his fastball is what makes him so appealing and why he appears ready for big-league competition. He doesn’t shy away from it and locates it on both sides of the plate.
“They call them secondary pitches for a reason. I pitch off my fastball,” White said. “Last year I learned to attack the zone because I was on a pitch count of 55 early in the season. If I wanted to get through five innings, I had to go right after guys. That’s my mentality.”
White quickly finished his postgame meal Thursday. Tulsa is officially in his rearview mirror. The only question now is when his first pitch will be with the Rockies.
“We are going to look over some things,” O’Dowd said. “We have a few days to make a decision. But obviously, he showed a lot.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
FRIDAY: Dodgers at Rockies, 6:40 p.m., Root
It’s simple. The Rockies have several key offseason decisions to make, and Jason Hammel (7-11, 4.97 ERA) needs to show he can tame Coors Field if he’s going to be in next year’s mix. Hammel is 3-8, 5.50 at home, including 1-7 in his last nine outings. The flip side: He’s coming off a stellar outing — 6 1/3 innings, five hits, one earned run — at St. Louis. Hiroki Kuroda (8-14, 2.88) isn’t overpowering, but he’s efficient, allowing very few walks or home runs. He has an 89-92 fastball, a slider he throws at two speeds and a splitter that induces swings on balls in the dirt.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Saturday: Dodgers’ Ted Lilly (7-13, 4.54) at Rockies’ Esmil Rogers (6-2, 6.00), 2:10 p.m.
Sunday: Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley (10-9, 4.04) at Rockies’ Kevin Millwood (0-1, 4.85), 1:10 p.m., Root
Monday: Astros’ Brett Myers (3-12, 4.72) at Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (9-10, 3.59), 6:40 p.m., Root
Tuesday: Astros’ Bud Norris (6-8, 3.61) at Rockies’ Aaron Cook (3-7, 5.23), 6:40 p.m., Root
