GLENDALE, Ariz. -- New Chicago White Sox pitcher Kyle Drabek can be excused for not knowing which way is up right now.
Friday’s waiver claim from the Toronto Blue Jays was in uniform in Arizona on Sunday and set to throw a bullpen session for pitching coach Don Cooper.
The coaching staff will determine where he goes form there, but with sore arms and struggles galore from the current crop of White Sox relievers, there is more than a good chance Drabek pitches out of the bullpen in a few games this week and lands a spot on the Opening Day roster.
“I heard [about the waiver claim], and then having to pack up my whole place in Florida and ship out the next day, and there’s only five days, or a week left,” Drabek said Sunday morning. “So [my head] is spinning a little bit.”
A starter until last season, Drabek was switched to a relief role at midseason and had six relief appearances with the Blue Jays this spring. Out of minor league options, the Blue Jays tried to slip him through waivers before sending him down, but the White Sox were there stalking and claimed him.
The move made sense for a White Sox team that has Jake Petricka behind schedule with a sore arm and Zach Putnam, who has had an up-and-down spring but has been improved of late. Even closer David Robertson is dealing with a sore right arm, but is further ahead of schedule than Petricka.
Having a hard time grasping it was Drabek, who has been in the Blue Jays’ organization since the start of the 2010 season. He was a first-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, but was included in the December 2009 trade that sent Roy Halladay from Toronto to Philadelphia.
Helping him to understand it all was his dad, Doug Drabek, who not only had a 13-year major league career, but he pitched with the White Sox in 1997, making 31 starts.
“He’s been great throughout my whole career,” Kyle Drabek said. “I had surgery in my first full year and that was hard for me, but having him there to talk to and when I got traded and sent down, he’s helped out a bunch with my mind, just getting it back on to baseball.”
Kyle Drabek was only 9 years old when his dad pitched on the South Side, but one memory does stand out from that time.
“I think I got to go up there a few times, and all I can remember is the corn they sold there,” Kyle Drabek said. “It was some of the best corn I’ve ever had.”
He can have all the elotes he wants now, assuming he is part of what is expected to be an eight-man bullpen at the outset. With Chris Sale not expected to pitch until April 12, the White Sox figure to start the season with four starters and an extra reliever on their 12-man staff.
The Drabek waiver claim is similar to the Hector Noesi claim of a year ago. Noesi was used out of the bullpen at the outset, but he also had the background of being a starter. It’s doubtful that Drabek finds himself in the rotation as quickly as Noesi did, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get that chance again at some point down the road.
For now, though, Drabek isn’t going to make any requests.
“Yeah, right now it’s whatever they want,” he said. “I’ve been a starter my whole career except for last year, halfway through, so yeah, right now, it’s whatever. I can’t complain.”