White Sox Provide Injury Updates on Notable Minor Leaguers

· Yahoo Sports

During a critical weekend series against the Cleveland Guardians, the Chicago White Sox provided some enlightening updates on a number of minor leaguers who have missed significant time with injuries.

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Scott Merkin of MLB.com was first with the news over the weekend, providing updated timelines for injured pitchers Drew Thorpe, Ky Bush, and Prelander Berroa, along with an update on infielder William Bergolla Jr. after his strong start to the 2026 season.

Of the three pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery, it appears right-handed pitcher Drew Thorpe is the farthest along, as Thorpe threw a live bullpen session yesterday.

That's a good sign that Thorpe could begin a rehab assignment sometime soon and start working his way back toward an MLB return.

Thorpe showed a lot of potential with the White Sox in 2024, posting a 3.03 ERA over his first seven career starts and 38.2 innings. Two blow-up outings while he was injured raised that ERA to 5.48 before he went on the IL with a season-ending injury. But the version of Thorpe we saw early in his MLB career, as well as his career 21-3 record with a 2.17 ERA in the minor leagues, has the White Sox bullish about his future, even with the time he has missed due to injury.

Left-handed pitcher Ky Bush is definitely a step behind Thorpe in his recovery. Bush is only participating in long toss right now and has not yet taken the mound to throw a live bullpen session.

Like Thorpe, Bush made his MLB debut for the White Sox in 2024 and posted a 5.60 ERA in his first four starts. There's just not as much of a track record here to feel confident that Bush can hit the ground running at the MLB level once healthy. And the current timeline makes me doubt he'll be back in the big leagues before the end of the 2026 regular season. At this point, it should be about taking things slowly and making sure there are no significant setbacks while working out a long-term plan for Bush's development and how he can help Chicago in the future. 

Even further behind Bush is right-handed pitcher Prelander Berroa, who will start throwing again in one to two weeks and resume baseball activities.

It's unfortunate that Berroa is the furthest behind because he's probably the pitcher who could help the White Sox the most right now. Berroa has a 3.05 ERA in 19 career appearances out of the bullpen for the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox, but he has not pitched in a game since September 2024. This is an explosive right-handed arm who could handle some leverage situations when healthy and provide a much-needed boost to a White Sox bullpen that has been missing it. But if it's the middle of July before Berroa even starts throwing long toss, the White Sox will be lucky to get him back by September at this rate.

William Bergolla Jr. played in 10 games for Triple-A Charlotte at the beginning of the year and was batting .457 with a 1.096 OPS before landing on the injured list. Bergolla suffered a shin bruise after colliding with left fielder Sam Antunacci in the field, and he has not played in a game since April 9.

According to the update from the White Sox, Bergolla has started his running progression. He is throwing and hitting normally, which is a good sign that he could begin a minor league rehab stint soon and eventually rejoin the Charlotte Knights.

I don't think the White Sox have any imminent need for a 21-year-old infielder, given the current outlook of the team. But it would be nice to see Bergolla get more at-bats and continue developing at the upper levels of the minor leagues. He turned a lot of heads with his performance at the beginning of the season, and I'd be curious to see what a contact profile like his could do over a larger sample size.

Each of these minor leaguers is at a different stage in the recovery process, but these are positive updates nonetheless after months of radio silence where these injuries were concerned.

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