To say that Michael Kopech had a bad day on Monday is an understatement. The 34 thousand people that packed into Guaranteed Rate Field for the home opener left the stadium disappointed after witnessing the White Sox fall to the Giants in a 12-3 drubbing. It was a game the home team never really had a chance in. This was thanks in part to a shockingly bad start from Kopech.
Kopech electrified the crowd that wasn’t still waiting in lines at the gate by striking out the first two hitters he faced. He even unleashed a new and improved changeup, a pitch he threw just 25 times last season.
Then it all came crashing down. After retiring the side in order in the first inning, he allowed two runs in the second inning, including a leadoff home run to Joc Pederson. The Giants tacked on another one in the third inning and four more in the fifth, all of them via solo home runs. When the dust settled, Kopech allowed seven earned runs, eight hits, five home runs, and three walks in 4.2 innings of work.
Kopech became the first White Sox pitcher to allow four home runs in an inning since Reynaldo Lopez did it in Toronto back on July 27, 2018. It also matched the most home runs allowed by a starter since Lopez did it against Toronto.
After looking so sharp in the first inning, it was surprising to see the White Sox fifth starter get shelled the way he did the rest of the way. The first thought that came to mind was tipping pitches.
That first inning, he threw the ball really well, Grifol said. “The velocity was high, and he looked really good. They made some adjustments to him. Whatever that was, we’ve got to get back to the video and see what we’ve got and see what we see.”
Kopech acknowledged that tipping pitches could potentially be an issue.
“It’s a possibility. If it wasn’t necessarily a tip, there was something I was doing different, breaking ball to fastball,” Kopech said. “Just by the body language of the hitters, they were on everything.
“I have enough speed difference to throw guys off a little bit. The fact they were on everything, they saw something,” Kopech added. Whether it was a tip or just me presenting pitches differently, they put good swings on it, and it showed.”
Potentially tipping pitches weren’t Kopech’s only issue. His fastball velocity was noticeably down. He did top out at 97.1 mph but averaged 94.4 mph on the 51 four-seam fastballs he threw. That’s the lowest average for his fastball in all four of his seasons in the big leagues, albeit in a very small sample size.
“For a starter, it’s tough to say it’s one of 162, but ultimately, it is,” a disappointed Kopech told reporters. “For a starter’s sample size, it’s tough to take a hit like that, especially the home opener when that feels pretty important to the fans. But we are going to put it behind us and just keep working.”
One start isn’t going to define Kopech’s season, so it’s not time to panic just yet. If he can remain healthy, he still has 31 more starts this season.
The stuff is there, as evident by the 12 swings and misses he picked up Monday. With his new changeup that struck out Lemonte Wade Jr. in the fourth inning, Kopech now has four pitches he feels comfortable with in any situation.
The 26-year-old says he felt confident about his stuff when departing from Spring Training and added that he feels great physically, a promising sign for a pitcher that has been hampered by injuries since 2018. There is no reason he can’t emerge as the ace the White Sox envisioned when they acquired him in the Chris Sale trade.
But if tipping pitches is an issue, it must be addressed immediately. Baseball is a mental game where confidence is key. For a pitcher that has thrown in just 74 games since 2018, it is imperative that he flushes that bad start out of his memory. People forget that Kopech only has games as a starter under his belt.
“He had a good spring in our opinion,” Grifol said. “everything was trending in the right direction. A loss is tough. They made adjustments on him today. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board, that’s it.”
Since he doesn’t have much experience as a starter learning to reset every five days is critical. Kopech will have an excellent opportunity to rebound in his next start against the Pirates at PNC Park.
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