Chicago White Sox: Three players to break out in 2020

The Chicago White Sox are looking to see different things from a lot of different players in 2020. There are some legit breakout candidates this year.

A lot of people want the Chicago White Sox to turn the corner in 2020. They took a major step in 2019 when guys like Lucas Giolito, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, and Tim Anderson had breakout years for Chicago. A big key to the success of this team in 2020 is these guys repeating some of that and perhaps improving on that. Those guys are all a huge part of this team and maintaining that level of production is key.

With that said, there needs to be more from other guys in order for this team to turn into a real winner. They need the starting rotation, bullpen, and starting lineup to all come together as a team in order to win more than they lose. It is going to be very fun watching another year of development from all of these players.

There are some very young players in the organization that is looking to break out in 2020. There are plenty of options to look at in the organization to have breakout years. Plenty of guys are going to be given the opportunity to do so. One thing that these guys will have that the ones who came right before them didn’t is a good team around them. These guys are all well protected in the lineup so easing them into their full-time MLB roles should go smoothly.

The White Sox have done a tremendous job building this thing back up after stripping it down to nothing. They have executed the rebuild exactly how it is supposed to go so far. Now it is up to the players to get the job done. These three players have the best chance to have breakout years in 2020:

The Chicago White Sox are expecting some big things from Dylan Cease. He came over with Eloy Jimenez in the trade that sent Jose Quintana to the Chicago Cubs. He was one of the best pitching prospects upon his arrival to the big leagues. He had a very okay MLB debut season with the White Sox last year. There is no doubt that he is a candidate for a breakout season in 2020.

You can compare him to Lucas Giolito’s breakout year but it wouldn’t be fair to expect Cease to be a Cy Young vote-getter in 2020. Cease also wasn’t the worst pitcher in all of baseball in 2019 like Gioltio was in 2018. You can still expect him to be a good pitcher for the White Sox going forward. He has the stuff to get it done, he just needs to be better early in games.

Cease is probably going to be lower in the rotation this season. That is good considering that guys like Giolito and Dallas Keuchel are going to be ahead of him. There are also guys like Reynaldo Lopez and Gio Gonzalez to help him ease his way into the rotation for a full season. This is a big year for Cease to show what he’s got.

There might not be a more electric player to watch in the organization than Michael Kopech. He is a flamethrowing starter that has wicked movement on a lot of his pitches. When he made his MLB debut at the end of 2018 it felt like a playoff game at Guaranteed Rate Field and the team was about to have 100 losses. He is in a similar situation to Cease as he is trying to come in and impress here in 2020.

The difference between Kopech and Cease is the fact that Kopech is coming off a major injury. He had Tommy John that canceled the end of his 2018 and all of his 2019 season. It was devastating to hear when the news first broke and understandably so. With that said, he is healthy and ready to go. The timing of his injury also allowed him to have a little bit longer of recovery than most Tommy John surgery guys. Hopefully, Kopech is able to get back to the level that made him one of the best prospects in the world.

Kopech may or may not make the team out of Spring Training. The team might want him to get a few starts in AAA following his injury but it shouldn’t be long before he is with the White Sox. This is a big year for Kopech and having a breakout season would go a long way for this team’s chances to be a winner.