Chicago White Sox closer Michael Kopech's stock seemed to be at rock bottom last week after he blew a save, nearly blew another one, and could not keep a game tied in another outing.
Changing agents might have been the solution because since Kopech went with Scott Boras this week, he has been downright unhittable.
That has taken him from being awful to immaculate as he just registered a nine-pitch, nine-strikes inning yesterday.
9 pitches. 9 strikes. Ballgame.
— MLB (@MLB) July 10, 2024
Michael Kopech throws the first immaculate inning of the season!
(MLB x @loanDepot) pic.twitter.com/VH1RgXpl1D
Before yesterday's outing, Kopech blew five saves and lost five more games. His solution seemed to be if things were going bad on the mound, he just wanted to throw the ball harder.
Then Kopech made an agent change and suddenly he is starting to buy into what the Sox want him to do on the mound.
Michael Kopech, who blew save Sunday in Miami, said he’s been hesitant to lean into Sox’ game plan for him, which has involved throwing more breaking balls. He leaned into it today, and it produced an immaculate inning.
— Vinnie Duber (@VinnieDuber) July 10, 2024
“You could definitely say I needed that.”
Scott Boras is normally a mortal enemy of the White Sox. He is the one agent ownership has typically avoided working with. Boras is notorious for taking his clients to free agency.
In this case, hopefully him or someone at his agency finally told Kopech to buy in and stop trying to throw harder and instead, throw smarter.
His first three outings this month had Kopech throwing 61 pitches. He was unable to keep the Cleveland Guardians tied on July 2nd and took the loss. He nearly blew a 3-1 lead last Friday against the Miami Marlins and did blow a save last Sunday against Miami.
Give manager Pedro Grifol credit for putting Kopech right back on the horse on Monday when he put Kopech back on the mound in a high-leverage situation. Kopech got threw that clean.
He has thrown 19 pitches in his last two outings. Instead of going strictly with the four-seaming he prefers, Kopech has mixed in his slider and cutter more.
The reason fans should want to see Kopech thrive is because of his velocity on that fastball. That makes him attractive to contenders. Kopech is not going to be immaculate every time out there, but it would be nice to see him pitch more like he has the past two outings to improve his trade stock.