The Chicago White Sox feels like a cursed baseball team. They started dealing with the injury bug early in 2021 and it hasn’t let up since. There have been many injuries this season too and Michael Kopech appeared to be the latest.
Kopech landed wrong after throwing a pitch in the first inning and left the game with knee discomfort. 13 pitches into the start and he was gone because of this. From there, we could only hope that he would be okay.
We are used to seeing the White Sox hand out bad news but they actually might be giving some good news with this one. After looking bleak, Kopech is going to be okay. He had some bad pain but it felt worse than it was.
After the game, Tony La Russa said that Michael Kopech felt a pop in his knee. That is never good but we can just be thankful that there was no structural damage according to an MRI. His knee is structurally sound which is incredible news.
Kopech said you could call what he felt a twinge or pinch, and that an MRI confirmed his knee is “structurally sound.” He has some fluid buildup to address and has a little soreness, but thinks it felt worse than it is
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) June 12, 2022
The Chicago White Sox aren’t getting terrible news on RHP Michael Kopech.
Tony also confirmed that he could start on Sunday. That is a week away but we would all have signed up for that when we first saw him go down. He only threw those 13 pitches in this one so he should be good to go.
Before this injury, Kopech was one of the best starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. He is about six innings short of being a qualified Major League starter but his numbers are amongst the league leaders.
If he keeps this up over the course of a career, he will have multiple Cy Young Awards. The sky is the limit for this guy but he does need to stay healthy. He missed a lot of time before joining the pitching staff again in 2021 due to Tommy John so it would be nice to see him stay healthy.
Of course, the White Sox went on to lose the game because Tony La Russa doesn’t know how to manage a bullpen. Obviously, that probably would not have been a problem if Kopech didn’t have this little injury but he did. Regardless, the White Sox dodged a bullet here.