If you had followed the Dodgers anytime from 2002 through 2014, Logan White‘s fingerprints were all over the organization. He helped build — in part — what has become baseball’s modern-day dynasty.
So, why are we talking about Mr. White 11 years after he left Los Angeles for San Diego? Well…
Logan White announced his retirement tonight while accepting his award, according to people in the room. https://t.co/9vfS4xEACt
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) December 10, 2025
Nothing like going out on top.
White has been with the Padres since 2015, when he was not retained as the Dodgers’ vice president of amateur scouting. The Andrew Friedman regime opted to go with Billy Gasparino and, it’s hard to complain about the results. As a diehard White fan and a fan of his draft philosophy, it took a little time to come around on Gasparino’s style, but I’ve fully embraced it.
However, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the impact White had on the pre-Guggenheim Dodgers and how he helped build some of baseball’s best farm systems during his 13-year run as scouting director.
Here’s a list of everyone he drafted and signed who amassed 10+ bWAR in their career:
Additionally, he drafted four notable All-Star-level players over the years who did not sign with the team: Kevin Gausman, Paul Goldschmidt, Mark Melancon and David Price.
He wasn’t limited to just the draft. White had a hand in the Dodgers signing the likes of Yasiel Puig, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Takashi Saito and Julio Urias. He was also on the ground floor of the Dodgers trying to sign Shohei Ohtani right out of high school.
White definitely had a preference — as a scouting director — for prep players. Every single player listed above, except Gordon and Martin, were drafted out of high school. When he dabbled in the collegiate ranks, the results weren’t as good.
For all the hits he had, there were his fair share of misses — either due to lack of performance, injury or both. Who can forget the likes of Chris Anderson, Andy LaRoche, Greg Miller, Zach Lee, Ethan Martin, Aaron Miller and the infamous (to me) Chris Reed. And there was the Luke Hochevar situation in 2005 that, funny enough, led to the Dodgers being able to draft Kershaw in 2006. A happy mistake for sure.
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White had been with the Padres since he left the Dodgers in 2014 and was instrumental in helping to build their farm system — just so A.J. Preller could trade literally all the prospects away (except Jackson Merrill, sigh) for established major leaguers.
His best draft might have been 2021, when he popped Merrill in the first round, James Wood in the second, Robert Gasser in the third and current friend River Ryan in the 11th. The Padres also drafted Chase Burns with their 20th-rounder, but he opted to go to Tennessee and become the No. 2 overall selection in 2024. Bullet dodged.
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His proudest moment may have been a draft pick he didn’t even make. His son, Logan Jr., was drafted by the Dodgers in the 39th round of the 2017 draft. He opted to attend Coastal Carolina University (where he redshirted in 2018) before transferring to UC San Diego. He wasn’t ever drafted again, but how many parents can say their child was drafted by an MLB, let alone the Dodgers? Well, thousands, but you get my point.
I met White one time after a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes-Stockton Ports game in Stockton. This was shortly after the 2013 draft. There used to be audio and a transcribed version of said audio, but Jared Massey and Chad hate me enough that both have been scrubbed from the Internet; written in ink, my ass!
He was gracious with his time and he is easily one of the best people I’ve met in my covering baseball in blog format. Here’s the best to him going forward and for him to enjoy his retirement.
White’s accomplishments to the game should be noted, but don’t forget about how he helped sculpt the Dodgers before they went on this unprecedented run we’re currently experiencing.
