The White Sox are planning to advertise prime pitching prospect Drew Thorpe to the majors on Tuesday, supervisor Pedro Grifol instructed reporters (together with James Fegan of SoxMachine). The precise-hander will make his MLB debut in opposition to the Mariners in Seattle.
Thorpe, 23, was the headliner of a 4 participant package deal the White Sox obtained from the Padres within the deal that despatched ace righty Dylan Stop to San Diego again in March. It was the second time Thorpe had been traded that offseason, because the Padres acquired Thorpe from the Yankees as a part of the Juan Soto package deal again in December. As one would possibly count on from a prospect that was a part of the return for 2 superstars in separate blockbusters throughout the identical offseason, Thorpe is a consensus top-100 prospect within the sport. The righty at the moment ranks #41 at Baseball America and #54 at MLB Pipeline.
Prospect analysis companies universally reward Thorpe’s wonderful command, capacity to eat innings, and the devastating changeup that he enhances with a 92-94 mph fastball that’s typically considered common and a average-or-better slider that sits within the mid-80s. Apart from his three principal pitches, BA additionally notes that Thorpe mixes in a high-80s cutter and a low-80s curveball. That arsenal allowed the 2022 second-rounder to tear by means of the decrease minors throughout his first style {of professional} ball with the Yankees final yr. Thorpe dominated to the tune of a 2.81 ERA with a 32.4% strikeout fee in 18 begins at Excessive-A final yr earlier than incomes a late season promotion to Double-A.
Thorpe’s star actually started to rise with that promotion. The then-22-year-old impressed with a glowing 1.48 ERA throughout 5 begins. The righty racked up a whopping 44 strikeouts in simply 30 1/3 innings of labor whereas strolling simply 5. Punching out 40% of batters confronted whereas strolling simply 4.5% in your first style of Double-A motion is a surefire strategy to get loads of consideration, and so it’s hardly a shock that each the Padres and White Sox entrance places of work coveted Thorpe sufficient to make him a key piece of the commerce returns for his or her star gamers.
Upon becoming a member of the White Sox group, the right-hander returned to Double-A for the beginning of the 2024 marketing campaign and has continued to dominate hitters on the degree, with comparable surface-level numbers in 11 begins this season to his five-start style of Double-A final yr. Thorpe has pitched to a 1.35 ERA in 60 innings of labor this yr, although his strikeout fee has dipped to a extra pedestrian 25% this yr whereas his stroll fee has crept as much as 7.6%. Even with these diminished peripherals, nevertheless, Thorpe has greater than proved himself succesful on the Double-A degree and figured to be in line for a promotion within the close to future.
What’s shocking, then, isn’t a lot the promotion however that he’ll skip Triple-A solely and leap immediately into huge league motion. The White Sox optioned right-hander Nick Nastrini to the minors earlier right this moment, leaving them with only a emptiness in a beginning rotation that misplaced Mike Clevinger to the injured checklist and now options solely Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Chris Flexen, and Jonathan Cannon. Fairly than name up a veteran on the Triple-A degree comparable to Chad Kuhl or Touki Toussaint to fill out the rotation, the White Sox will as an alternative flip to Thorpe in a daring transfer to get the righty a style of huge league motion.
It’s a call that might include monetary implications for Thorpe, as he’ll be in place to earn a fourth arbitration yr as a Tremendous Two participant if he stays with the massive league membership going ahead with out returning to the minor leagues. Thorpe might theoretically earn himself a full season of service time by ending within the prime 2 in AL Rookie of the 12 months voting this season, though that will be fairly the feat given the huge head begins afforded to gamers like Luis Gil of the Yankees and Mason Miller of the A’s who’ve been dominating within the majors all season.
