The components of a pitching prospect’s scouting report are pretty straight-forward: What do they throw, how well and how hard? Those three factors go into determining a prospect’s overall grade and where he ranks among his peers.

For the Yankees’ No. 5 overall (and No. 2 pitching) prospect, Drew Thorpe, what stands out in his MLB Pipeline scouting report is his changeup. With a grade of 65 out of 80, it’s tied for the highest-graded changeup in the organization and is considered a dominant pitch.

But what about components that aren’t graded on a number scale? One or two strong pitches won’t be enough for a guaranteed ticket to The Show. Thorpe leans on those less tangible factors.

“You can see it in Thorpe’s demeanor on the mound when he goes for a punchy and doesn’t actually execute the pitch exactly how he wants,” says Hudson Valley Renegades pitching coach Preston Claiborne. “He’ll just flip the switch and turn on this primal mode, just turn into this ultimate competitor.”

In Thorpe’s first year pitching professionally, the 22-year-old has proven he can be a dominating force on the mound -- just look at his 0.31 ERA at High-A Hudson Valley during the month of June. His competitive nature mixed with his no-doubt-impressive arsenal earned him a promotion to Double-A Somerset in August -- and has already yielded a body of work that has many onlookers excited about the future.

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Maybe it’s surprising for a guy with such loud stats, but Thorpe’s calm, quiet bearing is the first thing you notice when you sit down with him.

“I feel like I act the same off the mound that I do on the mound; I’m pretty calm and collected,” Thorpe says. “I just try to keep it easy and never get too high or too low.”

Despite not spending much time on the bump until his sophomore year at Desert Hills High School in his native St. George, Utah, Thorpe was recruited by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as a two-way player. He was quick to realign his focus on pitching when he was added to the weekend rotation during his freshman year with the Mustangs. By 2022, Thorpe had broken the school’s single-season strikeout record with 149 K’s -- the second most of any Division I pitcher that year.

During Thorpe’s time at Cal Poly, he clearly displayed an arsenal and command that could take him to the next level. But when the Yankees drafted Thorpe with their second-round pick of the 2022 MLB Draft, they knew there was more to him than just his repertoire.

“First and foremost, we thought we were bringing in a really competitive kid,” says Yankees senior director of pitching Sam Briend. “We knew he had good secondary pitches, we knew he was a competitor, and he had a lot of upside that we liked with the fastball and in the delivery.”

With more than 100 collegiate innings already under his belt in 2022, the organization shut Thorpe down after taking him 61st overall, giving the 6-foot-4-inch, 190-pounder time to work with the Yankees’ pitching development staff on fine-tuning parts of his game.

“We knew we were going to address some of the components of the delivery,” Briend says. “Being able to give him that movement and strength foundation right away and having the time to build up these characteristics, I think that just made it so much easier for him to start making those changes once we got rolling.”

By the time Spring Training arrived, Thorpe showed up to camp stronger and with refined lower-half mechanics -- helping increase his velocity. Additionally, he showed up with the type of demeanor that quickly impressed his coaches. They recognized how the pitcher soaked up any information presented to him and wasn’t afraid to ask the right questions to better himself.

“He was very open to what the Yankees had to offer him as far as development,” Claiborne says. “He took it and ran with it.”

After a long offseason, Thorpe was assigned to Hudson Valley, where he would take the bump for the first time professionally on April 9. With a game-time start of 2:06 p.m., Thorpe delivered the first pitch … which was drilled to deep left-center for a home run. Not the start to his career he had expected.

But that less-than-ideal moment caused the pitcher to become even more locked in. “Whoever’s in the box, he was going to get him out,” says fellow pitching prospect Chase Hampton.

Thorpe quickly retired the next two batters by recording the first two strikeouts of his pro career. By the end of the outing against the Greensboro Grasshoppers, he recorded eight K’s in 5 2/3 innings pitched.

For Hampton, that performance was a clear sign of Thorpe’s competitive streak. It wouldn’t be the last time he saw it.

In turn, the reserved Thorpe leaned on Hampton to begin to break out of his shell -- at zero cost to his competitive mindset -- when the two roommates, along with Hudson Valley teammates such as Spencer Jones and Mason Vinyard, started playing the board game Catan. Among all the trading and settlement building, it didn’t take long for Thorpe’s competitive nature to seep into their game nights after Hampton claimed a couple of victories. “It kind of set him over. He was like, ‘Yeah, I want to beat you,’” Hampton says.

In fact, Hampton has a knack for bringing out this side of Thorpe. As two of the most highly touted pitchers in Hudson Valley at the time, there was a bit of internal competition. The two would butt heads often because of how competitive they both are, but there was always an aspect of mutual benefit. Thorpe wasn’t only Hampton’s fiercest competition. He was also an incredible resource.

“He helped me learn a lot,” Hampton says. “The way I see him pitching, he’s very efficient. So just watching him and understanding the way he plays his game helps me out. Understanding that for me to be successful, I have to pitch with a similar mindset.”

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The mentality that Thorpe displays -- whether in board games or baseball -- has allowed him to “impart his sheer will on opponents,” says Claiborne, who worked closely with the righty during the pitcher’s time in Hudson Valley.

Looking past the uncharacteristic first pitch of his career, Thorpe’s performance in High-A was nothing short of elite. His 138 punchouts in 18 starts with the Renegades proved to be a lot more indicative of who he is than the 10 homers he allowed during that time.

“I’ve kind of always been a command guy, so that’s helped me throughout my whole career,” says Thorpe, who adds that he has been “continuing to refine those pitches and get them a little bit better so I get more miss-ins, and it’s been working so far.”

“He generated swing-and-misses at a higher clip than most other guys, especially with the changeup,” Claiborne adds. “There’s a word that we use -- pitchability -- and so he was always able to command the edges of the strike zone or just get below the strike zone with the offspeed pitches.”

Like any first-year player, Thorpe isn’t a finished product by any means. But everything so far indicates that he is moving in the right direction.

Through his first eight starts, Thorpe was solid, ending his first two months in Hudson Valley with a 3.92 ERA while striking out an average of 6.5 batters per game. But in his first June start, the pitcher seemed to reach another level, slinging eight scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and just one hit allowed against the Aberdeen IronBirds.

That gem marked the beginning of one of the most impressive months of pitching throughout the entire Minor Leagues. In four June starts, he allowed just one run and 12 hits to go with 34 K’s in 28 2/3 innings pitched -- equating to a Minor League-best 0.31 ERA and earning him South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month honors.

While Thorpe credits his performance to feeling like he was officially back in the thick of things after months of not pitching competitively, there was also an aspect of figuring out where he wanted to locate his changeup so that he could use it more frequently against righties and keep them off his slider.

Building off his dominant June, Thorpe continued to put together quality starts in July thanks to his ability to command the strike zone. His 32.4% strikeout rate was the best in High-A during his time at that level.

Even after a blemish in his game log on July 29, when he gave up eight earned runs in four innings, Thorpe was able to bounce right back, putting together a 10-K outing in his following start.

“He’s very levelheaded; he understands what he’s trying to do and what he’s trying to accomplish,” Claiborne says. “There’s a famous quote about a pitcher, saying that you’re going to have 30 starts in a year -- five you’re going to have your best stuff, five you’re going to have your worst stuff and the rest of them in the middle are where you’re going to make your money … and that’s what separates guys.”

After his bounce-back game, Thorpe earned his first Minor League promotion when he was called up to Double-A Somerset on Aug. 8. While there might be an expected adjustment period when moving up a level, Thorpe didn’t seem to be worried about it.

“Obviously, there’s better hitters here, and I know that coming in,” Thorpe said before his first Double-A start. “But in my head, I’m pretty good, too.”

Once again, Thorpe proved he isn’t just pretty good -- he’s exceptionally good. In his Aug. 11 debut with the Patriots, Thorpe twirled eight scoreless frames against the Mets’ Double-A affiliate, allowing just two hits while recording nine strikeouts.

Despite the impressive numbers, there is probably still a bit of time before fans can expect to see Thorpe in the Bronx, but based on his current scouting grade, there’s plenty of cause to believe he’ll make it there eventually. Perhaps more importantly than anything graded in his scouting report, Thorpe has the competitive mindset needed to keep grinding until he gets to that point.

“That’s my end goal, to be in the big leagues -- and be there for a long time,” Thorpe says. “Having that in the back of my mind and continuing to work toward that is something that keeps pushing me to get there.”

Brianna Mac Kay is an editor/publications assistant of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the September 2023 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.