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Michael Kopech had recently joined the Chicago White Sox rotation after years of being considered a leading candidate. Four of them started his career in the league, he showed why he was considered a potential beginner in the future.
Unfortunately, Kopech will miss the rest of the season and potentially the entire year 2019 after breaking his ulnar collateral ligament and possibly have undergone surgery by Tommy John, according to the team:
Kopech had an ERA of 5.02 and 13 additional strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings. Most of this damage occurred during his last outing, as he allowed seven races, all won, in 3 1/3 innings. Before that, he had allowed one race or less each time.
This is a regrettable development for Kopech for reasons other than the obvious. While command and control had been his biggest shortcomings in the past, he had recently decided to launch more and better strikes after slowing his delivery. In fact, Kopech had only walked two of the first 68 batters he had faced – that of someone who had walked 4.4 by nine during his career in the minor league. Now, Kopech will have to try to keep these apparent gains while returning from a layoff and grueling rehabilitation.
It also disrupts (and potentially derails) plans for next season's White Sox. Hopefuls Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Dave Dunning, Zack Collins and Alec Hansen are all expected to join the team before 2020. As such, the White Sox might not consider their competitive window fully open until the end of the year. Kopech will come back.
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