The Chicago White Sox has a lot of hope for Michael Kopech so fans should be very excited to watch him make his Spring Training debut.
The end of 2018 had one of the more electric nights at Guaranteed Rate Field over the last decade. There weren’t any playoff games to get excited about and only 2012 had any meaningful games late in the season. The night was the game that Michael Kopech made his Major League debut. The Chicago White Sox announced it a few days prior so there was all of this buildup.
It lived up to the hype. The crowd gave it a “playoff” atmosphere for a team that was about to lose 100 games. He was cut short after two innings thanks to a rain delay but it was probably the most electric two innings at that stadium in a long time. After some quality starts for Kopech, he ran into a devastating injury.
The rest of that 2018 and all of 2019 was missed because of Tommy John surgery. Well, now after a long recovery both physically and mentally, he is back. He will make his Spring Training debut tomorrow against the Texas Rangers. He is only going to go one inning, but that should be enough to see where he is at right now.
This is exciting for White Sox fans. He was sent over to the White Sox with Yoan Moncada in the Chris Sale deal. Before getting hurt, no pitcher in the organization had more hype around him than Kopech. Since then Lucas Giolito has turned into an ace, they signed Dallas Keuchel, and Dylan Cease has high hopes. That could take some pressure off of Kopech this season.
He has all of the talents in the world, which is why it is important for him to be healthy. If he can come in and join this good group of talented young pitchers, this 2020 White Sox team could be very dangerous. He might start the year in AAA again depending on the decisions made but this start tomorrow is a very important moment.