The Chicago White Sox saw some great pitching from Michael Koepch on Sunday evening. They needed dominance against the New York Yankees to sweep the doubleheader and they got it. He went 7.0 with no runs on one hit against.
He also only had two walks (they both came late) and six strikeouts against what might be the best lineup in the game. It was proof that when he is on, he is the most dominant pitcher that the White Sox have. It is legitimately no-hit stuff when he is right.
In order for him to be right more often than not, they need to continue grooming him into a full-time starter. After missing so much time in 2019 and 2020, he returned in 2021 as a reliever/spot starter as they tried to ease him back.
Now that he is a full-time starter again, he looks ready to go. However, we went into the year thinking that he would be on an innings limit but he has mostly thrown a lot during his starts. The numbers are insane and he looks healthy so nobody is really complaining.
Kopech has also gone every fifth game as Lucas Giolito missed a few starts because of an injury/COVID along with some knee surgery for Lance Lynn that has caused him to miss the entire season so far. Lynn will return in June.
The Chicago White Sox have the perfect plan for Michael Kopech right now.
The White Sox are now starting to hold Michael Kopech back a little bit. He missed some time last week because of a paternity leave which forced his start back to Sunday. As mentioned before, he was dominant.
Not only was he dominant, but he also had his velocity in the high 90s for the first time this season which is something that makes him extra special. He doesn’t need to throw as much as he needs to pitch but it is always nice to see him ramp it up from time to time as well.
Yes, it was his first game back after having a kid and it was a primetime nationally televised game against the New York Yankees which probably helped juice him up a bit but the White Sox clearly noticed it. They are going to give him an extra day of rest again after seeing the results from last time.
I don't mean Kopech on Sunday! Sox are going to give him some extra rest after seeing positive effects of such a plan in his gem vs. Yanks. This has worked well for other Sox pitchers, too. Remember back to last year with Carlos Rodón. https://t.co/ZGCP7uQKFR
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) May 24, 2022
With Dylan Cease, Lucas Gioltio, and Johnny Cueto throwing the ball as well as they are right now, there is no reason not to run this experiment with Kopech. We should absolutely see him in the series early next week against the Toronto Blue Jays.
They will need him at his best against that elite lineup so this is a great thing. When the White Sox need him the most this year, they want to make sure that he is as fresh and as healthy as possible. He is going to be a lot of fun to watch for a long time.