Former Yankees pitching prospect from Juan Soto trade succumbs to Tommy John surgery

Every pitching prospect breaks. Even the safest ones. Betting on young hurlers to make it to the majors unscathed — let alone through their entire careers without interruption — is a losing game. Sometimes, trading a young pitcher for an established asset will burn you, of course. More often than not, though, the Yankees will be happy with the big-league ready talent they receive in exchange for their young arms, as they continue to build a backfilled stable of options (2024 draft class, your purpose was very clear).

To put it bluntly, the problem with the Frankie Montas trade wasn't dealing Ken Waldichuk and Luis Medina; it was dealing them for Frankie Montas.

Both top prospects Chase Hampton and Thatcher Hurd have already gone down at Yankees camp with Tommy John surgery, in addition to ace Gerrit Cole. It's not quite an inevitability, but it's getting very close. The creeping fog is yet another reason why last year's Juan Soto trade, in which the Yankees surrendered two years of Michael King, top prospect Drew Thorpe, and some depth arms, was an unmitigated success.

The Yankees went to the World Series with Soto last year, further than they likely would've gone with King, knowing what we know about New York's patchwork 2024 offense. Thorpe was a blow to the system, with his bedeviling changeup, and the Padres immediately flipped him for Dylan Cease. He seemed like a sure-ish thing, given his singular weapon and lack of reliance on ridiculous velocity/harsh breaking stuff.

But even the sure things go down, to paraphrase Billy Joel refreshing Twitter for Cole's MRI results. After spending time on the IL last season with a flexor strain suffered before the Yankees' trip to Chicago, Thorpe left a start early with elbow discomfort this week, leaving the White Sox waiting in a manner the Yankees are already all too familiar with. Days later, it was confirmed he would need Tommy John surgery.

Former Yankees pitching prospect Drew Thorpe sidelined with Tommy John surgery

The injury was suffered in a minor-league spring game, and the White Sox sent him for further imaging, which confirmed Saturday's upsetting news.

Thorpe was by far the most MLB-ready arm in the Yankees' system when he was dealt for Soto, and his rapid rise in Chicago was no surprise to anyone who watched him dice up High-A hitters the summer prior. All it takes to set a pitcher off course, though, is one strain, the type of injury that can leave a weakened elbow exposed. And that's what ended up happening here.

We're sending our best to Thorpe, who's become the latest hurler caught up in this mess, but far from the last.