In the opener of this series against the Cardinals on Monday, Tony La Russa used Michael Kopech to hold a four-run lead over the final two innings, which he did without incident.
A day later, La Russa had a six-run lead with three innings to play, so he could use the final three innings to give some scufflers some work, during which Codi Heuer, Evan Marshall and Garrett Crochet combined to generate two whiffs over 44 pitches. The services of Liam Hendriks were ultimately required.
Swinging strikes might not be the best metric for an individual relief appearances, especially when throwing strikes and making the Cardinals hit their way takes precedent. Heuer gave up a run when a leadoff double came around to score, but at the point of the game where a run an inning doesn't hurt. Marshall induced three grounders to the left side, the weakest of which turned into a single, and the hardest of which erased that single with a double play.
As for Crochet, he was denied a backwards K on a 3-2 pitch, but only because Joe West called a clear ball a strike earlier in the count. It wasn't an inspiring outing, at a time where the White Sox could use a couple of inspiring performances in a row.
Using Kopech as a one-man bullpen isn't a bad use of his talents, especially if the other options of picking up an inning are wobbling, and the Sox may have the opportunity to pursue a more specific role as early as next week. After this afternoon's finale with St. Louis and a four-game set at home against Baltimore, the White Sox play a Memorial Day doubleheader against Cleveland, which Kopech would be rested for so long as he sees minimal action between now and Monday.
The open-ended handling of Kopech has worked out beautifully thus far. He's got a 1.78 ERA with 45 strikeouts against 30 baserunners over 30⅓ innings. The White Sox are 3-0 when he starts, and 5-5 in the other games he's seen. Four of those five losses are by one run, and the other by two. He's on track to end up with 105 innings pitched if his current workload can be extrapolated over the rest of the season, an eminently reasonable number after a two-year layoff. I think everybody involved would take the rest of the line as well:
| W-L | ERA | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7-0 | 1.78 | 105 | 69 | 21 | 21 | 10 | 34 | 155 |
The question is whether the White Sox can resist being pulled in one direction after the doubleheader passes and the schedule clears. At one end, every game where Kopech handles medium-to-high-leverage innings is one that improves the White Sox's chances while simplifying future situations for everybody else. On the other end, the mild side discomfort that Lucas Giolito pitched through suggests the White Sox shouldn't confine him to short relief. Nobody on the 40-man roster at Charlotte looks like a great candidate for starts ...
- Jonathan Stiever: 4 G, 13 IP, 14 H, 7 BB, 15 K, 4.15 ERA
- Reynaldo López: 3 G, 11 IP, 15 H, 3 BB, 11 K, 6.55 ERA
- Jimmy Lambert: 4 G, 8.2 IP, 10 H, 4 BB, 10 K, 9.35 ERA
... and there's nobody at Charlotte particularly suited for rotating in and out of the bullpen if the Sox wanted to accommodate an opener, unless Mike Wright is waiting to be the next KBO success story. He's got 24 strikeouts to six walks and a 2.81 ERA over 16 innings thus far, but it's hard to square up those numbers against how he looked in spring training.
When you look at the lack of reinforcements, I picture Kopech standing between two dams and using his wingspan to plug a hole in each. He's in an ideal situation where he can buy struggling relievers time on one side, and get a seven-inning game past the halfway point on the other. The perfect White Sox team is one where Kopech can stay there all season, but normal injury luck says the Sox should be prepared for one of those walls to buckle. There's no right course, except to appreciate the idea that Kopech is in a position to succeed in either one.
(Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)
