The Chicago White Sox are a team that is loaded with incredible starting pitching. When everyone is at their best, they have a team of four number one starters and a true number five guy. One of the best of the bunch is Micahel Kopech.
In fact, it is starting to look like Kopech is the ace of the White Sox staff. On Tuesday night, Kopech carved up the Los Angeles Dodgers who are one of the best teams in the National League right now. It was as impressive as any start he has made.
In 6.0 innings, he gave up no runs on one hit and one walk to go with eight strikeouts. it was a completely dominant performance over a team that has a lot of superstars scattered throughout their lineup. His ERA is now down to 1.94.
With guys like Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn, and Lucas Giolito around in addition to Kopech, it is hard to call any one guy the ace but he is starting to assert himself into that role. He has had the stuff for a long time but now he is learning how to command it on a regular basis.
Michael Kopech is deserving of the Chicago White Sox ace title right now.
This is a guy who is talented enough to become one of the most productive pitchers in the history of the White Sox. It is still very early but he is off to a good start. He is still kind of being eased into the rotation which is important to remember but he is clearly ready.
It is great to see Kopech get outs and get them in dominating fashion. Having eight strikeouts over 6.0 scoreless innings against that Los Angeles lineup is incredibly hard. Few people are able to contain them in that way.
The White Sox are going to be playing the Dodgers again on Wednesday night. Johnny Cueto is going to take the ball and face Tony Gonsolin. That is, despite a decent start to the season for Cueto, a really unfavorable matchup for the Sox.
It would be encouraging to see them figure out a way to overcome that and beat this really good Dodgers team for the second night in a row. For now, we will enjoy how good Kopech was and will continue to be.