Earlier today the White Sox left 12 men on base while on their way to a 5-4 loss to the lowly Tampa Bay Rays. While the big league club in Chicago is in a rough stretch, the fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of prospects Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech. The latter made his season debut for the Charlotte Knights this afternoon, and he didn’t disappoint.
Michael Kopech finished with a line of 4.0 IP, 8 K’s 2BB, and 2 H on 77 pitches. While he is best known for his triple-digit fastball, today it was his slider that made mouths drop.
flat out fillllllttttthhhhhhy slider from Kopech, looks like a fastball for 55 feet then *poof* pic.twitter.com/2h71f3ATSu
— whitesoxdave (@barstoolWSD) April 9, 2018
Another slider for a K, love his body language here, he's not even trying. Just kinda like "yeah this isn't even fun for me" pic.twitter.com/hRCXjdYkUM
— whitesoxdave (@barstoolWSD) April 9, 2018
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Don’t worry though, he still can throw straight heaters whenever he so chooses.
Peace, bitch pic.twitter.com/LDddWJ6Pj2
— whitesoxdave (@barstoolWSD) April 9, 2018
Right now, the question isn’t if he will come up this year, but rather when. If he keeps putting up stat lines like he did today, it will be sooner rather than later. When he does, the rotation will receive a massive boost.
The great ones have a knack for forcing the issue. So far it looks like Kopech is well on his way to doing just that.
