Despite being blanked 7-0 by the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, the Toronto Blue Jays provided an encouraging injury update on right-hander Mitch White, who has yet to make his Grapefruit League debut this spring.

White, delayed by a right shoulder impingement over the off-season, has been working on his build-up at the player development complex over the last few weeks and made a positive stride this past weekend, throwing a 43-pitch bullpen session. The 28-year-old’s next step will be facing live hitters on Friday, where he is expected to throw a few simulated innings.

If everything checks out, White may be cleared for game action shortly afterwards and could make his spring training debut as early as next week.

The 6-foot-3 hurler, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at last season’s trade deadline, figures to open the regular season in the bullpen – if he’s ready by then – and would serve as Toronto’s multi-inning reliever. But if he were to start the season on the injured list, however, the team would likely turn to Nate Pearson or Zach Thompson for that role.

White made eight starts and two relief appearances with the Blue Jays in 2022, logging 43.0 innings and posting a 7.74 ERA and a 3.76 FIP, worth 0.6 fWAR. He also registered 31 strikeouts and 16 walks, resulting in a 7.4 per cent strikeout-to-walk rate difference.

The Blue Jays also updated Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s status, revealing he took some grounders at first base, ran controlled sprints and hit in the batting cages at the PDC Wednesday. Toronto plans to re-evaluate the two-time All-Star on Sunday, where the team will determine if he’s ready to return to game action.

Guerrero is coming off a down year, at least by his standards, after hitting .274/.339/.480 with 32 home runs, 97 RBIs and a 132 wRC+ across 160 games last season. The 23-year-old was slashing .300/.417/.900 with two round-trippers and five RBIs in 10 at-bats this spring before departing last Friday’s contest with a right knee injury.

Toronto will continue its Grapefruit League schedule Thursday with two split-squad matchups, taking on the Atlanta Braves at TD Ballpark and the other at Tropicana Field versus the Tampa Bay Rays.