Michael Kopech returned to the mound in front of people who could honestly tell us what he looked like with an instructional league appearance on Thursday, and he made short work crossing off one set of concerns by flashing his expected velocity.
Eric Longenhagen said Kopech's first pitch clocked in at 99 mph, and Baseball Prospectus' Steve Givarz said he sat 97-98 while touching 100 over 30 pitches and five outs, including this strikeout of No. 2 overall pick Bobby Witt Jr.
Here he is striking out Bobby Witt Jr on a Slider. pic.twitter.com/g4t9kn5MaM
— Steve Givarz (@SteveGivarz) October 3, 2019
Seeing him throw at his old velocity just 12½ months after Tommy John surgery puts him on a different plane than Zack Burdi, who still hasn't touched his Louisville heat in the two years since his procedure. There's still plenty of work ahead -- refining command, working deeper into games, making appearances on a reliable schedule -- until Kopech is out of the woods, but imagine the responses if the video through the chain link fence showed him throwing 93.
If you can't somehow fathom it, here's Alec Hansen to provide an incredible simulation.
I'm guessing Hansen won't require 40-man roster protection this winter.
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While we're mentally in Arizona, here's a quick rundown of performances by White Sox prospect in the Arizona Fall League. It's quick because you won't want to spend much time thinking about 'em:
| Hitters | PA | XBH | BB | K | AVG/OBP/SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Sheets | 28 | 1 | 1 | 9 | .148/.179/.185 |
| Blake Rutherford | 31 | 3 | 5 | 8 | .192/.323/.375 |
| Micker Adolfo | 26 | 1 | 3 | 13 | .136/.269/.273 |
I suppose there's some solace that the Glendale Desert Dogs have six other players batting under .200, including a 1-for-32 performance from Jonathan India, but the idea of a pitcher-friendly league evaporates when seeing what White Sox pitchers have posted so far.
| Pitchers | G | IP | H | HR | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Johnson | 4 | 4.1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Bernardo Flores | 3 | 8.1 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6.48 |
| Bennett Sousa | 4 | 3.2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7.36 |
| Vince Arobio | 4 | 5.1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8.44 |
Flores has to dig himself out of a hole he created by giving up four runs over two-thirds of an inning in his AFL debut. He's looked Flores-like in his two starts since, with all that entails. Johnson's appearance in the AFL is more about logging innings and appearances, but it wouldn't suck to see him miss bats, as he is one of the reliever prospects for whom the Sox have significant plans.
When you compare the hitters against the pitchers, it doesn't surprise that Glendale has the AFL's lowest team batting average (.205), OPS (.578) and run total (35 in 12 games) by fairly large margins.
