Mustangs in the Pros Update
9/4/2024 2:30:00 PM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Brooks Lee is back with the Minnesota Twins after a three-week stint on the injury list but Drew Thorpe’s 2024 season with the Chicago White Sox has come to a close.
Lee, who was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis in his right arm in early August, played in five rehab games for the Saint Paul Saints last week before he was called up by the Twins for their game Sunday at home against the Toronto Blue Jays, going 1-for-4 with a single.
On Monday at Tampa Bay, Lee doubled and homered, knocking in a run and lifting his average 10 points. He currently is hitting .252 and has started all three games at shortstop since his return to the Major Leagues.
Among his five rehab games, Lee had a three-hit contest (two doubles, one single) against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 25.
The season is over early for one of the #WhiteSox top young arms:https://t.co/HEK0yGcqKo pic.twitter.com/y3iZnSZX87
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) September 1, 2024
Meanwhile, Thorpe, sent to the injury list retroactive to August 1 with a right flexor strain, is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery Saturday in San Francisco to shave down a bone spur in his right elbow, according to MLB.com. He is expected to be without restrictions for the start of Spring Training in 2025.
“When I got the first imaging done, it showed up in there,” Thorpe told MLB.com of the bone spur. “So that was kind of an underlying thing. Other than that, pretty good news. UCL looks really clean, flexor stuff went away. So that was kind of the underlying cause."
Thorpe, who clarified that the bone spur was not being totally removed, posted a 3-3 record with a 5.48 ERA over nine starts in his first Major League season. Those numbers included five straight starts of working at least six innings from June 22 to July 21. He gave up no more than three hits and allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of those outings.
Thorpe has not pitched since July 31, after giving up 14 earned runs over 5 2/3 innings in his previous two starts.
Recovery time is eight weeks of “no-throw,” according to Thorpe.
“So that should be about right when I'm ramping up for Spring Training,” Thorpe told MLB.com. “I should have a normal offseason, get ready for next year.”
The White Sox set a single-season franchise record of 107 losses on Sunday and need to go 12-10 the rest of the way to avoid tying the New York Mets for the Major League record of 120 losses set in 1962.
It has been a true learning experience for the 23-year-old from Utah.
“I learned a lot, just more about myself as a pitcher and being able to succeed in this league, what I need to do. And just carry that on to next year,” Thorpe said. “Obviously we've had a tough stretch but [his teammates will] all say the same thing.
“We're all coming in here trying to get better every day and trying to win ball games. It hasn't gone our way, but we're all pushing for each other and just trying to get better every day.”
Mitch Haniger's @Mariners-record 8th career walk-off sent T-Mobile Park into a FRENZY ??
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) August 9, 2024
?? NTT #BallparkCam | #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/STYFmbCEtF
Cal Poly has two other active Major Leaguers, both playing for the Seattle Mariners.
Bryan Woo earned his sixth win of the year August 25 against the San Francisco Giants, allowing two runs and three hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts in a 4-3 decision at T-Mobile Park.
The second-year Major Leaguer is 6-2 with a 2.30 ERA after giving up four runs and five hits over 6 1/3 innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels last Saturday. Woo had a no-decision in that contest.
Outfielder Mitch Haniger remains above the .200 mark at .207 but is seeing less playing time. After starting all three games in the San Francisco series August 23-25, Haniger has started just twice in Seattle’s last eight contests and 82 of the Mariners’ 139 games so far this year.
Haniger hit his 12th home run of the season, a solo shot against the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 21, had two hits in the August 23 win over the Giants and his double-play grounder with the bases loaded gave the Mariners the lead for good in another victory over the Giants on August 25.
Last Friday’s game against the Angels marked the first time this season that Haniger wasn’t in the starting lineup against a left-handed pitcher.
Jake Steels collects his first pro RBI, and we lead 4-1 after the 1st! pic.twitter.com/3zeo9qsoP1
— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) August 27, 2024
Ryan Stafford gives us the lead with a two-run double!#FlyTogether | #Birdland pic.twitter.com/H6NRkqfo2S
— Delmarva Shorebirds (@shorebirds) August 31, 2024
In the minor leagues …
• Andrew Alvarez is 4-5 with a 4.52 ERA for Rochester of the Triple-A International League. The southpaw earned a pair of wins in August and also earned four victories with Harrisburg before being promoted to Rochester in early June.
• After hitting .327 in 15 games for Delmarva in the Carolina League, catcher Ryan Stafford was promoted to Aberdeen of the Hi-A South Atlantic League on Tuesday and produced a two-run single in his first at-bat against the Jersey Shores BlueClaws.
• Jake Steels is off to a slow start at Augusta but singled twice in his professional debut August 23 and added his first RBIs, a two-run single against Columbia on August 27. He is 4-for-24 (.167) in eight games.
• Nick Torres completed another Mexican League season with a robust .341 batting average for the Laguna Vaqueros. The outfielder finished in the top 25 in home runs, doubles, RBIs and hits.
• Pitching for the Tampa Tarpons, Bryce Warrecker earned his second victory of the season last Friday, allowing two runs and four hits over five innings against Bradenton.
Follow the progress of all former Cal Poly baseball players in professional baseball by clicking the link at the top of this story.
