White-Sox Twitter was all atwitter the past few days after Michael Kopech was yanked from a start on Sunday after only 66 pitches. More seasoned observers read this as an indication of four walks and two hit-batters over three innings, but optimism ran wild. Which, I suppose is a good thing considering the state of Southsiders’ 2018 flop.
Rick Hahn addressed the media before the game on Wednesday to provide an injury update regarding Jake Burger‘s re-torn achilles, but he also dropped some nuggets on Alec Hansen‘s recovery, Luis Robert, Carlos Rodon and Miguel Gonzalez.
Jake Burger underwent successful surgery yesterday to repair his left Achilles’ tendon after suffering a re-tear last week at his Arizona home. Recovery process will take approximately 12 months.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 9, 2018
According to Hahn, Louis Robert is ramping up baseball activity in AZ, Alec Hansen may have thrown off a mound yesterday (Hahn was fuzzy on his dates, but only obstacle for Hans is getting back to baseball shape), Miguel Gonzalez heading to a rehab assignment soon. #WhiteSox
— Matt Enuco (@Matt_Enuco) May 9, 2018
Rodon made another start in extended Spring Training on Wednesday and Hahn explained that he will make two or so more starts before heading out for a rehab assignment — of course assuming all goes well. But the subtle comment Hahn made on Kopech piqued my interest and echoed what I’ve been saying all along about Kopech’s ascension to the majors.
Here is what Hahn said when asked about promoting Kopech:
“Here’s the thing. As was the case last year with Moncada, Lopez and Giolito, we’re not going to give start-to-start updates on guys. When they’re getting close to being here I think it will be pretty obvious to all, everybody based on their performance. And one day we’ll have an announcement that he’ll be activated tomorrow.”
That was certainly a smokescreen. Kopech has been pretty darn dominant at Triple-A this season with a bundle of strikeouts and a low earned run average. His only hiccup was last Sunday where he took a few self-inflicted wounds in a short outing. But that is where the wisdom lies.
More from Hahn:
“He continues to progress and important elements of his development are happening down there in Charlotte. Not just the number of changeups he’s thrown or the effectiveness of the changeups, but the stuff you can’t really see in terms of his preparation and his reaction to adversity and how he responds to that between starts. Again it’s a process. Not all of it it’s obvious to the eys. Not all of it can certainly be picked up from the stat line. But we’re definitely pleased with the progress and there remains work to be done.”
No matter how many strikeouts Kopech deals, that won’t be the deciding factor that boosts him to the bigs. There is a complex calculus at work here that depends on human evaluation, not computational analysis. Kopech has some growing up to do and the White Sox want to see him make those leaps in the minors.
He’s under a microscope, perhaps under closer scrutiny than he was last season. The best thing Kopech can do is suffer a few rough outings (NOT SAYING HE SHOULD START TRYING TO FAIL) and demonstrate an earnest curiosity on how to make adjustments.
It’s important for White Sox fans to keep in mind that many of these prospects have been the best player on every team they’ve ever played on. The White Sox want to know how he’s going to respond adversity — that’s the long and short of it.
