Chicago White Sox: Doubleheaders could help Michael Kopech
MLB could add scheduled doubleheaders into the regular season this year which would be beneficial for one Chicago White Sox pitcher.
The Chicago White Sox could end up participating in regularly scheduled doubleheaders this season, along with the rest of MLB, as a result of the delayed start to the 2020 season because of COVID-19.
As detailed by FOX 6 NOW, Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black thinks it could make sense to do that.
“In theory, yeah, I think all of us would be up for some sort of doubleheader situation,” Black said. “The thing that’s going to be in front of all of us is it’s going to be the same for everybody. It’s got to make sense for the clubs and the players.”
If that were to happen, a lot of details would need to be ironed out, including roster limitations for the season as a doubleheader would likely require every team to have a sixth starter.
That could potentially open the door for Michael Kopech to start the season in the South Side who, prior to the events of the last couple of weeks, appeared destined to start the 2020 season at Triple-A Charlotte.
Now, he could find himself used as a starter once a week in this potential format for the 2020 season as a means of limiting his innings while also giving him a chance to improve at the major league level in his first season back from Tommy John Surgery.
Obviously, his innings likely will be quite limited this season now anyway, but this could actually provide an opportunity for him to pitch at the major league level regularly this season without having to adjust right back to the grind of an every fifth-day schedule.
This is something that could also prove beneficial for Carlos Rodon later on in the season, who is also recovering from Tommy John Surgery.
Kopech, 23, made one start in spring training this year in which he struck out one and allowed no baserunners over an inning of work.
The right-hander, unfortunately, might struggle to build up more live innings before the season starts, though, with the plan for a possible second spring training unclear, which Dan Schlossberg of Forbes talks about.
His inability to get ready in a hurry might force him to, temporarily, start the year at Triple-A still just to get some innings of live baseball in, but nonetheless a system with scheduled doubleheaders would allow him to stay at the major league level for most of the season.
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It could be really beneficial for both the Chicago White Sox and Micahel Kopech to have regularly scheduled doubleheaders as it could really allow the team to evaluate him without having to push him too much early on.