Chicago White Sox: Time to worry about Michael Kopech?
Michael Kopech, the future ace of the Chicago White Sox, has struggled recently. Should fans begin to worry?
Michael Kopech began the Spring with two impressive and encouraging performances. He then followed those up with two abysmal ones. As a result, should Chicago White Sox fans be worried? Well, the short answer is “no.”
When the Boston Red Sox sent Michael Kopech to the Chicago White Sox as part of the Chris Sale trade, fans of the South Siders were thrilled — and for good reason. Kopech is a hard-throwing right-hander with electric stuff. He regularly hits triple-digits with his fastball and has two above-average offspeed pitches in his arsenal (slider and change-up).
Therefore, when he hit Spring Training for the White Sox, fans couldn’t wait to get a glimpse of the raw, but talented pitcher. Michael Kopech did not disappoint in his debut. In fact, he sat down the first batter he faced with three straight fastballs.
Michael Kopech's first batter of 2018, just 3 fastballs right down the pipe. No chance https://t.co/f4ckCa76Sm
— Red Line Radio (@RedLineRadio) February 26, 2018
In his second start, he continued to show development, even working out of some trouble against the Kansas City Royals. The organization and fans knew he’d be a work in progress. Moreover, while he’s someday expected to assume his place at the top of the rotation, he still was relatively short on experience. Therefore, everyone expected some growing pains.
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However, in his two most recent appearances, Kopech has struggled mightily. Candidly, he has not had a very good couple of weeks, both on and off the field. But it certainly isn’t time to push the panic button. In fact, there are a few good reasons for Kopech’s performance during this period of time.
On March 6th, Rick Hahn, the White Sox general manager announced that Kopech would begin the season in the minors. Two days later, Kopech delivered a very disappointing start (2.1IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 0 K, 3 BB, giving up one home run).
The Chicago White Sox were hoping to stretch Kopech out a bit during his next outing. However, that plan failed miserably. Kopech came into this past Sunday’s game in relief and didn’t last long at all. He ended his appearance with a line of 0.1 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, K and a home run.
Sandwiched in between those two poor performances was a bout of bad news in Michael Kopech’s personal life. During this period of time, reports circulated that he and his girlfriend Brielle Biermann had split up. Kopech had been dating the reality tv personality for approximately two years. No doubt this was weighing heavily on him.
Brielle Biermann confirmed that she has split from Michael Kopech: https://t.co/tZAP5rFlpx pic.twitter.com/foz8y12oIQ
— E! News (@enews) March 15, 2018
Furthermore, by his own admission, Kopech seems to be a perfectionist. He gets hung up trying to be too perfect with every pitch and has a difficult time putting a bad pitch behind him. Therefore, if he struggles to put adversity behind him quickly, these past few weeks must have taken their toll.
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticCHI/status/975813416521814017?s=20
Perhaps he was merely pressing too hard in his last two outings. Maybe the stress of splitting from his longtime girlfriend became a distraction. It is even possible that the idea of starting the year in the minors was weighing on him heavily. All of these things could have thrown him off his game.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that Michael Kopech, at the end of the day, is a twenty-one-year-old kid. We like to build up our superstars and make them larger than life. When we do that, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that they’re just kids playing a game. Again, just because they’re professional athletes, doesn’t mean they’re immune from emotion.
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Bottom Line
Regardless of the reason for his poor performance, White Sox fans shouldn’t worry. Kopech still has the same electric stuff. He just needs to learn how to harness his emotions. The reality is that he was a longshot to make the club out of Spring Training. However, he gained invaluable experience that will serve him well when he is inevitably called up.