Unusual Suspects: 9/5/23

Five players. Once more, we extoll the virtues of some less-heralded prospects.

Welcome back to Unusual Suspects, a decreasingly new weekly series that seeks to identify and/or observe intriguing prospects who are not in the proverbial spotlight.

The returning reader knows that there will not always be five new players each week. Although this week’s edition is focused entirely on players who’ve been discussed in previous editions, many a few of these players are doing new, different, and/or interesting-er things!

Now, for anyone inquiring about what makes someone an “Unusual Suspects,” I first say this:

Aside from my own inclination as to what is or is not interesting, players are eligible for consideration if, at the time of writing, they:

• Are not on a 26-man MLB roster

• Maintain their rookie eligibility (i.e. fewer than 130 MLB at-bats or 50 MLB innings pitched)

• Were not selected in the 2023 draft

• Did not appear in any of the four pre-season Top 100 prospect lists at Baseball America, FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus, or MLB Pipeline 

These rules may occasionally be broken to provide updates on graduated players or mention those who have seen their stock sky-rocket throughout the season (as measured by various mid-season lists).

Players will be presented in reverse alphabetical order because I feel like it.

With that, once again, slightly shorter preamble concluded, please enjoy this week’s “Unusual Suspects.”

Drew Thorpe, RHP, New York AL

There’s been a lot of hype about Thorpe on the-internet-hellsite-formerly-known-as-twitter-dot-com, which, I must be honest, make me slightly less interested in following him. However, Thorpe remains an omission on MLB Pipeline’s live Top 100 list and he did not crack “The Midseason Top 50” at Baseball Prospectus (which actually ranks the top 60 players ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). Also, he’s a Yankees’ prospect and we know fans of the pinstripes to be both a) numerous, b) #MalcontentOnline, and c) looking for any reason, anything at all, to feel better about the future.

Well, if Jasson Dominguez dingers aren’t enough, they’ve at least got a weekly Drew Thorpe Start™ to turn that frown upside down. Thorpe tossed another gem last week, allowing just one run on three hits and three walks with nine punch outs over 5.1 innings of work. Through his first four Double-A starts, Thorpe has posted a 1.47 ERA (1.88 FIP, 1.99 xFIP) and a 39:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 26.1 innings.

Wen Hui Pan, RHP, Philadelphia