Tempering Enthusiasm for Drew Thorpe's MLB Debut, Next Wave of White Sox Prospects

Things are a lot different than they were seven years ago. This can be said about many things in life, but it especially rings true for the Chicago White Sox and their fans. Admittedly, we can be a very pessimistic fan base with perpetual feelings of doom and gloom surrounding us. But things are at a level now that few have ever lived through before.

If you go back to 2017, it was all about #TrustTheProspects across social media. Hell, even NBC Sports Chicago bought into the hype machine broadcasting games from various affiliates, publishing podcasts covering the top prospects, and holding town halls that talked up the future. Most of us had high hopes for the future, even if we weren't in love with the fact that the decision-makers who helped create the mess were now in charge of cleaning it up.

As Anthony and I detailed in a Sox On Tap series over the winter, Rebuild 2.0 looked great on paper. There was a point when the White Sox had nine of the top 100 prospects in the sport, and they were the darlings of prospect evaluators. Even some of the biggest names in baseball media were proclaiming them a burgeoning juggernaut. We know that didn't happen, as the "window" had but two single playoff game victories to show for it. We're now in the deconstruction phase, and the optimism of years past is nowhere to be found.

The First Arrival

The next era of White Sox baseball won't come with critical acclaim. Four White Sox prospects currently reside within MLB Pipeline's top 100 list : Colson Montgomery, Noah Schultz, Edgar Quero, and the first arrival at the big-league level, Drew Thorpe. Thorpe has climbed to the No. 54 prospect in the sport according to MLB Pipeline, and he was the headliner of the return from the San Diego Padres when the Pale Hose shipped former ace Dylan Cease to Ron Burgundy's hometown.

Thorpe has been exceptional in his time pitching for the Double-A Birmingham Barons of the Southern League. The 23-year-old righty has pitched to a 1.35 ERA over 60 innings for a Barons team that has dominated on the mound. Thorpe's calling card when he came to the Sox organization was his impressive control/command of the strike zone, and that's been on full display to this point.

He's averaging 8.40 K/9 to go with a very solid 2.55 BB/9, which is a welcome sight when you see how much White Sox pitchers at the Major League level have struggled to command the strike zone this season. The hope is that Thorpe will be the first in a line of many quality starting pitchers that will be arriving at the corner of 35th/Shields over the next 12 months to help remake a rotation that doesn't miss enough bats, issues too many free passes, and surrenders too many long balls.

Thorpe's strength is a plus-plus changeup that's received as high as a 70 grade on the 20/80 scale. As someone who loves a great changeup, the idea of Thorpe being able to mystify hitters with that pitch is enticing to me, at least. His ability to consistently work ahead of hitters with a fastball that is currently below average will be the determining factor if he'll be able to use that changeup as the weapon it is intended to be. There aren't many pitchers in today's game who can pitch below hitting speed with success, so Thorpe will need to maintain consistent control of the strike zone to be effective at the game's highest level.

Thorpe has been everything the White Sox organization could hope for in a player who was the centerpiece of a deal that sent a former Cy Young runner-up out of town. But we need to level set here, folks. He was doing this at Double-A. Obviously, having success at that level is better than the alternative. But at the end of the day, he was still facing lineups filled with many hitters who will never see the sport's highest level.

Prove It

Rebuild 2.0 scarred many White Sox fans. The team's marketing machine did a tremendous job of garnering support for the full teardown that took place and the subsequent intentional losing that followed. Many of us were blinded by the success stories of other organizations that went the full teardown route and were able to enjoy the fruits of those labors. We didn't get that experience .

Because the man now in charge of the entire organization, Chris Getz , played an integral role in the failed development of the many highly touted prospects of the past era, fan enthusiasm for the next crop of prospects is almost nonexistent. Yes, there are publications dedicated solely to covering this team's minor-league system, and they do a solid job overall, but the appetite for prospect coverage doesn't feel the same as it did last time.

We aren't far removed from a period when the Sox had three players who were top-five prospects in the entire sport — Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, and Luis Robert Jr. — along with a slew of other players ranked in the top 100 at various times, and that group only produced two single playoff game victories. So, forgive me and many others for simply not buying into the hype of four players littered across the current top 100 listing. Simply put, we were burned by the false hope of prospects not long ago, and some wounds don't heal quickly.

So, with Drew Thorpe set to debut Tuesday and any of the other prospects that will follow, there will be a heightened level of skepticism until they prove they belong at the corner of 35th/Shields. We had so many prospects anointed as franchise cornerstones not long ago only to have them fizzle out due to inconsistent play and/or health issues that the trust simply isn't there. It doesn't help that there haven't been wholesale changes in the organization with their player development staff and processes.

Yes, Paul Janish is in charge of things now, Josh Barfield has been brought in to aide on the development front, and my personal favorite, Brian Bannister has been tabbed to overhaul the organization's pitching program, but none of these individuals have been in place for even a full calendar year. There isn't concrete evidence of organizational change in the area of player development to instill confidence in fans that the next crop of prospects will succeed more than those who came before them.

Let me be clear, I want Thorpe to come up and absolutely shove in his MLB debut against the Seattle Mariners. I want him to feature that changeup and have hitters shaking their heads relentlessly on their way back to the dugout. But until I see it with consistency, I'm not going to be penciling Thorpe into a future rotation. Remember, just a few months ago, people on social media were singing the praises of Nick Nastrini and labeling him a future rotation mainstay only to see his initial foray at the big-league level be littered with control issues and overall poor results.

The #TrustTheProspects days are over with the White Sox fan base. I feel that most of us are using the old adage, "Prospects are suspects" at this point in time. Again, I want these players to succeed at the highest level. I want them to cement themselves as pieces of the next good White Sox team, whenever that is. But the days of blindly buying into the hype are over.

Related: White Sox to Debut Top Pitching Prospect Drew Thorpe vs. Mariners

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