The struggle has been real for Michael Kopech.
The conversion to being the White Sox closer is not going well.
"There’s no easy way to say that," he said Sunday. "It’s tough for me to say but it’s the truth. I got work to do to get better.”
Acquired with Yoan Moncada as a prized pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization in 2016 — in the Chris Sale trade that set a rebuilding project in motion — Kopech made four starts in his debut 2018 season, was injured in 2019 and opted out of playing in 2020, the COVID year.
He posted a 3.50 ERA on the Sox’ AL Central winning team in 2021, appearing in 40 games as a reliever and making four starts. After making 25 starts and posting a 3.54 ERA in 2022, Kopech struggled with a 5.43 ERA in 2023 and was converted to a relief role this season.
Now the primary closer for a 26-66 team, Kopech’s ERA expanded to 5.45 on Sunday when he allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 7-4 loss to the Marlins, failing to protect a one-run lead. Former teammate Jake Burger’s three-run homer ended the game. Kopech (2-8) has blown five saves.
Kopech has leaned heavily on his four-seam fastball, which touches triple digits. He threw 20 pitches in the ninth, 18 four-seam fastballs and two cutters.
“It’s coming down to what we talked about a lot lately in-house,” Kopech said. “I need to mix my pitches and not just rely on the fastball so much. It’s difficult to do that when I fall behind and my best pitch is my fastball. I have to get back in the count.”
“He’s got to find ways to slow down and pound the strike zone,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “These guys are up there taking [against him] now, so got to find ways to slow down, pound the strike zone, use your secondary pitches. We’ve all seen him, when he’s in the strike zone he’s really tough to hit. Got to find ways of doing it.”
It’s fine for Kopech to bring the heat, but he has to command it better. Hitters are accustomed to mid- to upper 90s velocity — and higher — so it’s not enough to simply gas it up and let it fly. And Kopech does possess a slider and changeup, pitches he used as a starter.
“He’s going to have to use his secondary, and pitch,” Grifol said. “He’s got plus-plus stuff, but you’ve still got to pitch in this league. And he knows it, we’ve talked about it, we talked about it [Saturday]. I was looking forward to seeing him come in and mixing it up. He threw a really good one to [Jesus] Sanchez for strike one, then we got behind and I walked him [intentionally] for Burger. But he’s got a really good fastball. There’s the old saying, if you’re going to get beat, get beat with your best, right. But you’ve also got to mix in some other stuff.”
Kopech's talent is enough to warrant hope the Sox can get something of value in return before the trade deadline, but these outings raise red flags, even for teams looking for sixth, seventh or eighth-inning help. Sunday’s ninth began with a walk, a dreaded start, especially with a one-run lead.
“A leadoff walk is not acceptable,” Kopech said. “Walking the leadoff guy was a tough position to be in, but it’s not a situation that’s foreign to me. I’ve done it before and been able to work out of it.
“After that, it just comes down to executing and I didn’t do a great job of that. I fell behind to some crucial hitters and then ended up getting clipped on a fastball behind in the count. I’m not sure if it was even count or I was behind to Burger, but threw him another fastball and it got hit.
“The ninth has been my role this year and those situations I have a job to do, and I haven’t been doing it well."
