The Chicago White Sox have some seriously high hopes for Michael Kopech. He has an amazing fastball that moves like no other and that pitch is going to help the White Sox win a lot of baseball games. Kopech hasn’t been on a professional mound in a “game that counts” type situation in almost two full years now. He had Tommy John surgery at the end of 2018 that shut that year and all of 2019 down for him. He is now healthy and ready to go.
Kopech needed baseball for a lot of reasons in 2020. He made his personal battles off the field known during Spring Training and pitchers need to pitch. He has had a longer layoff than most Tommy John patients have and that is good because he is ready to go with no setbacks but he also needs to get back to pitching in games. He made a Spring Training game start and was an electric factory that has White Sox fans all excited.
Michael Kopech was likely going to get a few starts with AAA if this was a normal season. The logic probably would have been that he should get some starts in fewer pressure situations to get the real game feel back. Well, that isn’t happening this year so now the question remains about how the White Sox are going to use him. Will they still roll five starters with the 60 game schedule even? A lot still has to be figured out but fans should be excited to watch Kopech play once again. 2020 is big for him.