White Sox May Not Use Drew Thorpe in MLB This Season

The Chicago White Sox do not currently have a starting pitcher scheduled for Thursday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Sean Burke will take the mound Tuesday night, followed by Davis Martin on Wednesday. But even after using a bullpen game against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday Night Baseball, the White Sox remain uncertain about who will take the ball later this week.

Many White Sox fans have been advocating for right-handed pitcher Drew Thorpe to receive an opportunity with the MLB club. Thorpe has spent the last few months rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and pitching in the minor leagues.

Despite his success, however, it’s becoming increasingly likely that we won’t see him in Chicago at all in 2026.

The White Sox have announced that Thorpe will start Tuesday night for Triple-A Charlotte, ruling him out for at least another week before his schedule could align with an opportunity to pitch in Chicago.

Tuesday night will mark Thorpe’s ninth rehab start of the 2026 season and his fifth appearance with Triple-A Charlotte.

Over his last six outings, Thorpe has posted a 2.60 ERA. He has completed five innings in three of his four starts for Charlotte and thrown as many as 87 pitches in a single outing.

Thorpe has consistently found success throughout his professional career, compiling a 22-3 record with a 2.30 ERA in the minor leagues. Yet even with innings at a premium in Chicago, the White Sox don’t appear motivated to give him an opportunity.

Clearly, the White Sox have some reservations about giving Thorpe a chance in the big leagues this season, even with the consistency and reliability he has displayed during his recovery from Tommy John surgery. But how can we know that the White Sox likely won’t call him up before the end of the year?

In my opinion, if they were going to do it, they would have done it already.

The White Sox desperately need innings. Preserving their bullpen arms is essential to the team’s success, yet they’ve recently relied on multiple bullpen games. At this point, essentially every Luis Castillo start has turned into a bullpen game as well.

If the White Sox trusted Thorpe to help their rotation, they could have brought him up weeks ago. As long as the team continues to use bullpen games and enter a series with a TBA listed as an upcoming starter while Thorpe remains in the minor leagues, it sends a pretty clear message.

Perhaps they aren’t confident in how many innings he could provide. Perhaps they don’t want to tax his arm by placing him in the middle of a high-stakes playoff race. It’s also possible that the White Sox simply don’t want to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

Thorpe is currently on the 60-day injured list, and activating him would require the White Sox to clear a 40-man roster spot, likely by designating another player for assignment. The team might not be comfortable doing that this close to the end of the regular season.

Whatever the reason, it’s starting to look like we won’t see Drew Thorpe in Chicago in 2026. With only 19 games remaining, there has never been more pressure on the rest of the White Sox starting rotation to get the job done.