Recently Traded Ex-Padres Prospect Suffers Season-Ending Injury

Maren Angus-Coombs | Sep 2, 2024

Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago White Sox announced during their 2-0 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday that former San Diego Padres right-handed pitcher Drew Thorpe is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery to shave down a bone spur in his right elbow on Sept. 7.

The procedure will take place at San Francisco's Golden State Orthopedics and is scheduled to be performed by Dr. Kenneth Akizuki.

Thorpe is expected to return in time for spring training next year. He also clarified after the loss how the bone spur was not being completely removed.

Clarifying this: Drew Thorpe said postgame the bone spur will be shaved down, not removed. https://t.co/ndwgVwT5md

— MikeClarkPreps (@mikeclarkpreps) September 1, 2024

“When I got the first imaging done, it showed up in there. So that was kind of an underlying thing,” Thorpe said. “Other than that, pretty good news. UCL looks really clean, flexor stuff went away. So that was kind of the underlying cause.

“Getting close to the end [of the season] and just figured there's no reason to push. At the end of the day, that was the best option.”

Thorpe was the centerpiece of the four-player trade that sent Dylan Cease from Chicago to San Diego in the spring.

Thorpe finished his debut season with a 3-3 record and a 5.48 earned run average over nine starts. From June 22 to July 21, he put together a stretch of five consecutive starts where he pitched at least six innings, allowing no more than three hits and just two earned runs or fewer each time out.

However, he had not appeared in a game for the White Sox since July 31, after giving up 14 earned runs over 5.2 innings in his previous two starts. He was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm flexor strain retroactive to Aug.1 and hasn't been back since.

Pitching for the league's worst team taught Thorpe valuable lessons that he wouldn't have gotten anywhere else this season.

“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.”

According to Thorpe, the recovery time is eight weeks of "no throw" which will give him a normal offseason and ample time to ramp up for spring training.