Drew Thorpe Set to Make MLB Debut Against Another Former Mustang
6/10/2024 2:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After the 2023 baseball season, Drew Thorpe was traded twice — by the New York Yankees for Juan Soto in December and then by the San Diego Padres for Dylan Cease in March. On Tuesday, the former Cal Poly pitching standout will join Soto and Cease in the Major Leagues, starting on the mound for the Chicago White Sox.
He’s a strike-thrower, he’s a competitor, he’s got a plus-plus-plus changeup. He knows how to pitch. He’s calm and got a really good demeanor. Looking forward to seeing him pitch at this level. He looks like a big leaguer.Chicago White Sox Head Coach Pedro Grifol
Ironically, he might be facing another ex-Mustang — Bryan Woo, who is posting eye-popping numbers of his own. Should that happen, it would mark just the second time that two former Cal Poly pitchers started against each other in a Major League game.
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol confirmed to reporters Sunday that Thorpe will make his MLB debut Tuesday against the American League West Division-leading Mariners in Seattle.
So far this year with the Double-A Birmingham Barons in the Southern League, Thorpe is 7-1 with a 1.35 ERA along with a 0.87 WHIP and .172 opponent batting average in 11 starts. He has struck out 56 batters, 11th in the Southern League, with 17 walks and his seven wins leads the circuit.
Including the five starts at Double-A that Thorpe made in 2023 in the Yankees’ system, the 23-year-old righty is 11-1 with a 1.39 ERA across 16 career starts at that level.
Thorpe struck out seven in six innings in his last start Wednesday against the Tennessee Smokies, allowing just one run. The Washington, Utah, native at one time retired 10 consecutive batters and 13 of 14.
“I settled in after a leadoff homer and was able to continue to get back to work and get back to the game plan,” Thorpe said. “They have a couple good hitters. You kind of read the scouting report and learn what they’re going to swing and miss at, where their cold zones are and go from there; mix in different pitches each at-bat and throughout the game, and try to keep them off balance."
Drew Thorpe, MLB's No. 54 prospect, will start for the #WhiteSox in his MLB debut on Tuesday, Scott Merkin reports.
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 9, 2024
Full scouting report, pitch breakdown and more on the reigning MLB Pipeline Pitching Prospect of the Year: https://t.co/hSGrUdx3jN pic.twitter.com/wSNLreYZ14
Thorpe did not pitch in the minor leagues after he was drafted in the second round by the Yankees (61st overall pick) in the 2022 Major League Draft.
The right-hander pitched in 18 games for Hi-A Hudson Valley and made five more starts for Double-A Somerset in 2023, combining for a 14-2 record and 2.52 ERA. He led the Minors in strikeouts (182 in 139 1/3 innings), strikeout minus walk percentage (26.9) and swinging-strike rate (18.6 percent), and ranked second in wins (14), winning percentage (.875), WHIP (0.98) and strikeout percentage (34).
Thorpe said his goal heading into this season was to “start where I left off, continue to get better and hopefully get to the big leagues this year.”
So far in his two professional seasons in the minors, Thorpe is 21-3 with a 2.17 ERA and 238 strikeouts over 199 1/3 innings.
Thorpe was a consensus All-American at Cal Poly and finished first in NCAA Division I in strikeouts during the 2022 regular season, posting a 10-1 record and 2.23 ERA.
He tied a school Division I record with 15 strikeouts over seven innings against UC San Diego and broke the school’s all-time single-season strikeout mark with 149. He struck out 10 or more batters nine times in his 15 starts as a junior and four more as a freshman and sophomore.
In three seasons at Cal Poly, Thorpe was 17-8 with a 3.03 ERA, a .212 opponent batting average (tied for Division I school record), 284 strikeouts (12 shy of the overall record) over 223 innings and 11.46 strikeouts per nine innings (school Division I record).
Pitcher Drew Thorpe was acquired from the San Diego Padres in the Dylan Cease tradehttps://t.co/xOYy2jtTbD
— NBC Sports Chicago (@NBCSChicago) June 10, 2024
Thorpe, 23, is the No. 3 White Sox prospect, No. 41 overall prospect in the majors, according to Baseball America, and No. 54 by MLB Pipeline.
Thorpe was part of the Soto deal that also included Trent Grisham from the New York Yankees for Thorpe and four San Diego prospects. Three months later, he was the headliner of a four-player package the White Sox received from the Padres in the deal that sent Cease to San Diego.
Thorpe will be the 23rd former Cal Poly baseball player on a Major League roster and the 14th in Larry Lee’s 22 seasons as head coach. No. 22/13 was Woo, who made his MLB debut June 3, 2023.
Woo is 7-5 with a 3.34 ERA in 13 months with Seattle, striking out 117 batters over 121 1/3 innings and 24 starts.
Woo also made the jump from Double-A to the Majors after posting a 3-2 mark and 2.05 ERA in nine starts with the Arkansas Travelers of the Texas League.
“Calling guys up from Double-A, as opposed to Triple-A, is not that big a deal,” Grifol said. “We have a clear understanding and knowledge of the major leagues. There’s boxes you have to be able to check to be able to get called up here, and Thorpe checks those boxes. He’s got good command, a plus-plus-plus pitch. He’s a calm personality, got good presence and is mature, so he checks some boxes.”
The last time two ex-Mustangs ever faced each other as starting pitchers in the Majors was when Kevin Correia met up with Bud Norris on July 3, 2010.
