As the new year approaches, we're counting down the top White Sox stories from 2018.
In a season that was always going to be about waiting, getting some payoff, some tangible proof of progress was huge.
Michael Kopech had been one of the biggest names of the White Sox rebuild since the second it started, one of the two big pieces to come back to the South Side in the trade that sent Chris Sale to Boston and kickstarted this whole thing. After he dominated at the Double-A level in 2017 and earned a late-season promotion to Triple-A Charlotte, many fans figured it wouldn't be long until they were watching him star in the majors.
That didn't turn out to be the case, with Kopech going through some notable struggles after a strong start to the 2018 campaign. For a while there, Kopech was dealing with what he later admitted was a case of the yips, and it showed in his numbers: He had a 5.69 ERA and a 76:47 strikeout-to-walk ratio over a 12-start span from May 6 to July 5.
But once Kopech figured things out, he figure them out in a big way, following up that aforementioned stretch with these numbers: a 1.84 ERA and a jaw-dropping 59:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over seven starts, leading to a promotion to the major leagues.
And the fans were pumped when #KopechDay finally came, giving Kopech a standing ovation every time he got a batter into a two-strike count.
“That was pretty exciting stuff,” Kopech said after his debut. “I didn’t really know how many people were going to be here tonight in general. I knew that maybe half the crowd was going to be my family. It was exciting to see how invested the fans were tonight. A standing ovation every time I had two strikes, I didn’t expect that, but that was, it made me feel like I was in a big-time game, and I guess it was a big-time game for me. It was awesome.”
MLB
Kopech's arrival at the big league level symbolized more than it ended up producing in the immediate aftermath, though, as once he got to the majors, it was one frustration after another for the top-rated pitching prospect in the White Sox organization. Though three of his four starts came in front of the home fans, all three were short, with rain impacting all of them and none lasting more than 3.1 innings. Then came the bad news that Kopech would need Tommy John surgery after just four major league outings. He's likely to miss the entirety of the 2019 season.
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotions for me in the past couple of weeks, obviously. From just about my absolute peak to the absolute rock bottom for me,” Kopech said the day his surgery was announced. “I think to say it’s unexpected would be an understatement.
“It sucks. That’s it. It sucks.”
That came like a gut punch to the fan base, too, but it's important to remember what his initial arrival showed: that the rebuilding effort is moving along in a positive manner.
If 2018 was all about the waiting game, one of the biggest waits came to an end in late August with Kopech reaching the majors. The light at the end of the rebuilding tunnel that Rick Hahn has talked about in recent weeks, part of that is thanks to Kopech, who reached all the developmental milestones the White Sox were hoping he would reach in the minor leagues.
And while another waiting game is underway as he recovers from the surgery, the most electric moment on the South Side in 2018 was the end of the wait for Kopech's major league debut.
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