Angels take a pass on former Miami Dolphins quarterback Patrick White

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The Angels liked Patrick White so much they used a fourth-round pick on the athletic outfielder in 2004 and a 26th-round pick on him in 2007. Scouting director Eddie Bane said Friday that if White had signed out of high school, ‘He would be a starting center fielder in the big leagues right now.’

But when White, who spurned the Angels’ 2004 offer of about $350,000 -- he was looking for something closer to $1 million -- to play football at West Virginia, became available after being cut by the Miami Dolphins this week, the Angels took a pass. White, now 24, signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

‘We were aware of him getting cut by the Dolphins, but we weren’t interested,’ Bane said. ‘He hasn’t played baseball since high school.’

White was a star at West Virginia, the two-way threat amassing 10,529 total yards and leading the Mountaineers to a 34-8 record in the games he started, and he was a second-round pick of the Dolphins in 2009. But White was used sparingly last season, usually out of the wildcat formation, and he rushed only 21 times for 81 yards. All five of his pass attempts were incomplete.

White remained on the radar of several baseball teams, though. The Reds used a 49th-round pick on him in 2008, the Yankees used a 48th-round pick on him in 2009, and now the Royals will take on the project of turning him back into a baseball player.

-- Mike DiGiovanna