White Sox rookie pitcher Drew Thorpe provides hope of better days to come with an enchanting start against Rockies

These are some dark days for the Chicago White Sox but last night was not one of them. Rookie Drew Thorpe turned in another great start as the Sox beat a peer in being bad, the Colorado Rockies, 5-3.

Thorpe is the White Sox second-best pitching prospect and No. 3 prospect overall in their system according to MLB Pipeline. He is also ranked among their top 100 prospects.

In three of his first four career starts, he has shown that he can easily reach his floor of being a solid starting pitcher at the big-league level. He has also hinted that he can reach his ceiling of being an ace despite a lack of velocity on his fastball.

Thorpe threw six innings last night in his first career start at home. He allowed just two runs on a two-run blast by Brenton Doyle in the sixth-inning. Otherwise he was "enchanting" on the mound as television analyst Steven Stone described during the broadcast.

It was another quality start after getting absolutely rocked by the Arizona Diamondbacks during his second-career start.

Just like he showed at Double-A after he was roughed up a few times, he can bounce back. Facing adversity and coming through on the other side unscathed is one of the reasons he is on track to be a centerpiece of the starting rotation on the next competitive team.

As CHGO baseball writer Jared Wyllys pointed out, Thorpe's locker in the clubhouse is next to fellow rookie Jonathan Cannon and emerging ace Garrett Crochet. While it might be a coincidence, it is a symbol that those three pitchers are what lead the Sox out of the darkness.

Those three have the potential to form the nucleus of a rotation that can help the Sox get back to being competitive quicker than expected.

Cannon must have a bounce-back performance against the Rockies much like Thorpe has done after Jonathan was rocked by the Detroit Tigers last week. Before getting crushed by the Tigers, Cannon was showing promise in his two starts before that rough outing in the Motor City.

Pitching is how the Sox can turn things around especially if the Sox keep Crochet and extend him instead of trading him at the deadline.

Crochet has been the subject of constant trade rumors and for good reason. He only has two more years left of club control and that might not match up with the timeline calculus of when the Sox will be good again. Plus, his pay for this season is cheap at $800k and he has achieved ace status. The only left for him to achieve is proving he can be a consistent top-five Cy Young vote-getter.

He might be on an innings limit this year as this is his first year as a starter, but a contender will find him very attractive since he has pitched out of the bullpen where he can help in September and October if his arm tires out as a starter. Plus, he can be a starter for two more seasons on the cheap.

However, if the Sox can find a way to extend him and Thorpe along with Cannon keep pitching at a quality rate, the Sox have a starting rotation that would be the envy of every team.

Plus, the Sox still have Noah Schultz, their top pitching prospect still on his way toward the big leagues. In addition, the White Sox still have promising pitching prospects in Nick Nastrini at Triple-A along with Jairo Iriate, Ky Bush, and Mason Adams at Double-A.

They have a pitching guru in Brian Bannister to develop them too.

Sure, it has been four starts so let's not anoint Thorpe as an ace just yet. However, with every start that Drew Thorpe looks great, you can get excited about the future of the White Sox. That is a good thing since there has not been much to get excited about with this team this year.