Ten minutes after Arizona baseball’s 2012 national championship victory in Omaha, Nebraska, a then-8-year-old Mason White bought the team’s title-commemorating T-shirt — a piece of Wildcat history that he still holds dear to him today.
Twelve years later, the Tucson native, who according to his father, Ben White, was “truly U of A baseball’s biggest fan growing up,” is now the face of the UA program, with a different title shirt from his own contributions on the forefront.
The dominance from the sophomore shortstop, whose 19 home runs led a Wildcat roster that won both the Pac-12 regular season and tournament championships en route to hosting an NCAA Regional this season, didn’t come easy, however. From a young age, he was tested both mentally and physically by his coaches, including into his championship-contending playing days at Salpointe Catholic High School.
Salpointe Catholic's Mason White hits a three-run homer during the bottom of the sixth inning in the Class 4A state playoffs against Flagstaff two years ago.
During his time with the Lancers, it was specifically Salpointe associate head coach Victor Acuña who White became especially close; it was Acuña who is credited by White with pushing him to the potential they knew he was capable of and where he wanted to go.
Arizona infielder Mason White (24) waits his turn in the cage as the Wildcats take batting practice before first pitch against Grand Canyon in the opener of the 2024 NCAA Tournament Tucson Regional Friday at Hi Corbett Field.
Despite having the skill set needed to make the Lancers’ varsity team as a freshman, the varsity staff left White down a year to play junior varsity to challenge him and see him grow as a person.
The then-freshman White still practiced with the varsity team, hung around the players and even came with the team to Phoenix to watch them win the state championship.
He understood that there was a process to earning his stripes.
That very offseason heading into his sophomore year, White, through a constant challenge of his skillset from Acuña, took making his presence known to heart, making strides physically. His game started to change “holistically” before eventually earning the role at shortstop that next season.
“I could have just let him be and he probably still would have been pretty good,” Acuña said. “But just found ways to challenge him on a daily basis, challenge him to be better in the classroom, leader on the field.”
Added Acuña: “I think me being hard on him, me having high expectations for him and of him, I think our relationship just grew in that vein. I was the one that was holding him accountable but I was also the one that was giving him a hug.”
Arizona shortstop Mason White (24) makes the throw on a dead run to nail Oregon State’s Jabin Trosky (2) on a slow roller up the middle and get the Wildcats out of the seventh inning at Hi Corbett Field on May 18.
Ben White, who pitched for the UA baseball program from 1993-96, noted that Salpointe instilled a certain work ethic in Mason that continues to allow him to be the best baseball player that he can be as well as be in a position to comprehend what it would take to make it to play on game days for the UA at Hi Corbett Field.
Similar to his freshman season at Salpointe, White, as a freshman at Arizona, had to wait his turn to bat high in the Wildcat lineup. He also had to wait for his chance to start at shortstop.
But, again, he put his head down and went to work last season as the team’s second baseman. He shined, especially in conference play, posting the second-best batting average on the UA team against Pac-12 opponents. That helped earn him Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America honors.
Fast-forward a year, and White, who had shadowed and learned from former UA shortstop-turned MLB-Draft-pick Nik McClaughry in 2023, established himself not only as the 2024 team’s anchor at short but also moved up three spots in the lineup. White became a star for the UA in 2024, being named to the Pac-12’s All-Conference team and just last week being named the Pac-12 Tournament MVP.
Arizona coach Chip Hale hugs shortstop Mason White following the Wildcats’ win over USC in the championship game in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament on May 25 in Scottsdale. White was named tournament MVP.
To White, it’s been clear the impact of Acuña’s challenges had prepared him for virtually any obstacle he’s faced in the faster-paced environment that is college baseball.
“He taught me lessons at a young age that I still use at a young age that I still use to this day, like discipline stuff, being on time, the way I approach drills every single day,” White said Thursday.
“So doing that all throughout high school, it’s really led up to where I am now.”
The past two seasons, White has illustrated his ability to not let the pressure get to him when it matters the most, delivering three RBIs and two home runs in two games in last year’s Fayetteville Regional in Arkansas while going 6 for 15 in his Pac-12 Tournament MVP run in Scottsdale. He then went 2 for 4 in the Wildcats opener vs. GCU and had the Wildcats’ first hit Saturday in an elimination matchup with Dallas Baptist; he roped a textbook opposite-field double down the left-field line in the bottom of the first inning.
White was 1 for 4 Saturday and finishes the season with a .305 average to go with 65 RBIs and a .995 OPS in 59 games. And although the UA season came to an end with a 7-0 loss to the Patriots, the impact White had on the Wildcats in 2024 was evident; he’ll be in position to put an even greater signature on coach Chip Hale’s 2025 Wildcat squad come next spring.
Hale has known Acuña for more than a decade with Acuña coaching Hale’s son, Jack, years ago. Hale has chatted with Acuña about White, the Lancer-turned-Wildcat, telling the Salpointe coach that White is someone with a “slow heartbeat.”
Arizona shortstop Mason White turns the pivot over Grand Canyon’s Tyler Wilson on a double play in Friday's loss to the Antelopes.
That didn’t surprise Acuña. He has seen his former star player, who he says “is baseball all the time,” rise to stardom through his experience being in many different situations so many times — a facet of his game that can propel the Wildcats in the coming years.
“The game doesn’t speed up on him. Situations don’t get too big. That’s Mason in a nutshell,” Acuña said of White.
“He’s in the right place at the right time, all the time,” he added. “That isn’t luck. That’s because his baseball I.Q. is so advanced. The game slows down for him based on the work that he’s put in.”
Arizona shortstop Mason White (24) holds the tournament MVP trophy after the Wildcats’ defeated USC 4-3 on May 25 in Scottsdale.
