Did the Southside of Chicago Strike Gold?
Did the Southside of Chicago Strike Gold?
Speed isn't everything
From New York to San Diego to the southside of Chicago, Drew Thorpe looks like he has finally found a home. The 54th overall prospect in baseball according to MLB.com made his debut for the White Sox last night and did not disappoint. Standing at 6’4” and weighing in around 210 lbs, Thorpe is definitely an imposing figure on the mound. That being said he is not necessarily a flame thrower. In fact, he really isn’t a hard thrower at all! The fastball touches 94 MPH but sits around 91-92 MPH which is not that impressive, especially for a right-handed pitcher. So what makes Thorpe tick?
According to Baseball Savant, he possesses a super interesting pitch mix consisting of a Four-Seam Fastball (28%), Changeup (39%), Curveball (4.9), and Slider (15.9%), and he will throw a variation of a Cutter (12.2%) here and there. The moral of the story is that he will not overpower you with his size, but his Changeup can be devastating and was able to generate a 43.8 Whiff% against the Seattle Mariners last night.
This is exactly the type of pitcher the White Sox need so desperately right now. Thorpe was selected in the 2nd round of the 2022 Major League Baseball draft by the New York Yankees with the 61st overall selection. When he signed with the Yankees he received a $1.187M signing bonus and that is where Thorpe first caught my attention. In High-A and Double-A baseball throughout the 2023 season, he was simply impressive as he was able to rack up 182 across 139 ⅓ innings.
Unfortunately, he won’t be pitching in the Bronx as a Yankee but I cannot complain…moving him to San Diego landed the Yankees the notorious Juan Soto. That was working out pretty well last time I checked. Although he will most likely never be a Yankee again, I wish him good luck in his career and to take it easy on the Yankees.
MLB Stats:
5 IP | 4 K | 1.80 ERA | 1.00 WHIP
2024 MiLB Stats:
7-1 | 1.35 ERA | 11 GS | 60 IP | 56 K | 0.87 WHIP
Career MiLB Stats:
21-3 | 1.80 ERA | 34 GS | 199.1 IP | 238 K