The White Sox announced that they have designated right-hander Kyle Drabek for assignment in order to clear a 40-man roster spot for top prospect Carlos Rodon, whose contract has officially been selected from Triple-A Charlotte.
Chicago claimed the 27-year-old Drabek off waivers from the Blue Jays in late March, and the former top prospect secured a spot in the Sox bullpen to open the season. Drabek, who was one of the centerpieces of the trade that sent Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays to the Phillies, totaled 5 1/3 innings with the South Siders, allowing three runs on nine hits and a pair of walks with three strikeouts.
Drabek was the 18th overall pick in the 2006 draft and, at one point ranked as high as 25th on Baseball America’s Top 100 prospect list and 14th on Baseball Prospectus’ version of that same list. Tommy John surgery in 2012 was among the injuries that have slowed the development of Drabek, and to date, his body of work at the Major League level is rather unimpressive. In 177 2/3 innings, he’s recorded a 5.27 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9.
Ah, Drabek. the once heralded pitcher in the halladay trade. Hope he gets a shot somewhere, im sure someone will grab him.
im sure no one will “grab” him. Hes not a good pitcher in any way.
Seems like he kind of player Douquette would drool over…. cheap and was once heralded
I am drooling as a type this! =P
I’d like to see the Pirates pick pick him up…for obvious nostalgic reasons, but also for their recent success in fixing broken pitchers.
I share your sentiments and your sense of nostalgia, but he has no virtual chance of coming to the Pirates. They just don’t have anyone on the 40 man roster that they would be willing to cut in order to bring Drabek on board.
I could live without Bobby LaFromboise on the 40-man…and I’m still not too excited about Rob Scahill…but yeah…Drabek represents more of a cool last name than he does an actual upgrade.
Velocity was clearly an issue. 90-91mph on the fastball just doesn’t cut it out of the bullpen unless you have excellent command. Just a couple of years ago, he had 92-93mph as a starter. Very surprised he’s down to 90-91mph as a reliever as I thought it would go up to 94-95mph instead.
2 x TJs will do that to you.
Two Tommy John surgeries. Don’t expect much.
Best of luck to Kyle Drabek. Hard to believe it’s been 9 years since he was drafted first round by the Phillies. If he could improve his control over his secondary pitches, his game would play up considerably.
Rumor is that he’s coming back to Philly. As an Eagle!
Reminds one that a prospect is just a prospect, no matter how highly thought of. Sometimes they turn out to be future HOF, and sometimes they end up like Drabek. Let’s hope there’s another act for him. As a Yankee fan, I remember his dad, and that sinking feeling I had when he was traded away.
I’m sure someone will pick him up fairly quick. I wish the kid well
Drabek has actually had two Tommy John surgeries on his arm, not just the one 2012 surgery that the article mentions.