Drew Thorpe – 2023 MiLB Pitcher of the Year
Felo Ramos
11/1/23
Drew Thorpe – 2023 MiLB Pitcher of the Year.
Drew Thorpe is the Yankee’s #2 prospect per NYY Underground’s top 30
Thorpe was drafted 61st overall out of Cal Poly by the Yankees in 2022. During his senior year at Cal Poly, he finished the season 10-1 with a 2.32 ERA with 149 strikeouts (a Cal Poly record and ranked second highest among all D-1 pitchers that year) and only 25 walks in 104 2/3 innings. Thorpe, at 6-foot-4 212 lbs has the frame of a power pitcher, but he isn’t. Thorpe is far more of a command pitcher, pitching with a purpose, sequencing, and his elite control to get outs. While he isn’t a power pitcher, he was one of the most polished pitchers in the draft last year and in the MILB in 2023. Thorpe relieves on a four-pitch mix and his great control to induce weak contact and strike hitters out. While Thorpe isn’t a power pitcher, yet he still led the MILB in strikeouts for 2023. His pitch package consists of his 4- seam fastball that sits around 92-95 mph and he can maintain that velocity deep in games. He throws a few different sliders, he throws a short-breaking SL, a sweeper, and a traditional SL which all come in the mid 80’s. He has continued improving each of these pitches with his best being his traditional SL. That is an above-average pitch to a plus pitch that generates a lot of swings and misses as well as inducing a lot of weak contact. His best pitch is a double plus change-up. He can throw it to any part of the strike zone in any count. Even when batters know what is coming they can’t touch that pitch. Everyone and their brother know that CU is coming and it doesn’t matter, hitters swing over the top of it. Thorpe remind me of Hall Fame pitcher Greg Maddux’s pitching style with command and ability to pitch to both side of the plate.
Scouts evaluating a pitching prospect are looking for what pitches they have in their arsenal, how effectively they can use them, and how fast they throw each pitch. Everything is graded using the 20-80 scale, with 80 being the best in baseball. Per MLB Pipeline’s scouting report, Thorpe’s change-up earned a score of 65 which I feel is about a half a grade or 5 points low on the scouting scale. His fastball grades around 60 and his sliders around 60- 65, with his cutter grading out as an above-average or about a 50-grade, but improving pitch.
In an interview with Hudson Valley pitching coach Preston Claiborne during the summer he commented that Thorpe’s competitiveness shines through in his on-mound demeanor, when he doesn’t execute his pitch as precisely as he’d like, he has the ability to switch into a primal, ultra-competitive mode. Thorpe also mentioned during the year that he has consistently been a pitcher who focuses on command, and he has been working on refining his pitches to generate more missed swings, something that he accomplished this year.
In Thrope’s first year in the Yankees system, he started in High-A Hudson Valley (his first pitch as a professional player he delivered was hit for a Homerun). Across 18 starts in High-A he tossed 109 innings with a record of 10-2 with a 2.81 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 138 strikeouts. In June the right-hander was named SAL Pitcher of the Month after posting a 0.31 ERA (1 ER on 28.2 IP) with 34 strikeouts and only 6 walks. From May 28 to June 25 Thorpe went a 28.1 inning scoreless streak which was the longest scoreless innings streak by a South Atlantic League by any pitcher in 2023. He was promoted to Double-A in early August, where he made just 5 starts, tossing 30.1 innings with a record of 4-0, a 1.48 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, and 44 strikeouts. In his AA debut, Thorpe went 8 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 0 runs, and 9 strikeouts
which he followed up with a 6.2 innings with 12 strikeouts in his 2nd start.
In Thorpe’s season between High-A and Double-A, he went 14-2 with a 2.52 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and a Milb-leading 182 strikeouts. Those numbers propelled him to win the Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year, which is a huge award. Thorpe’s coaches were impressed by his attitude and approach, he also demonstrated a strong desire to continue learning and absorbing any information provided to him to continue to develop. He is one of the better pitching prospects in the minors and the top pitching prospect in a loaded Yankees system. Thorpe has the potential to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher for many years to come and will likely start 2024 in AA. Thorpe is one of the most polished pitching prospects in our system and if the Yankees open up a competition for the 5th starter spot in Spring Training it would not surprise us at all if he won that competition.
Thorpe is working to add some velocity this winter and if he does that this kid will be a problem for any team that faces him. He is also looking to refine his cutter and sweeper so he can command them a little more consistently. Thorpe is one of the better pitching prospects in baseball and should find himself in the MLB rotation at some point in the 2024 season. Thorpe in his first season in the MILB has established himself as the best SP prospect in a pitching-rich Yankees farm system and is definitely a name we will be hearing a lot about this season.