As prized pitching prospect Michael Kopech struggled through his third straight loss last week for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, I suspect White Sox officials felt something nobody at 35th and Shields would dare admit.
Relief.
Kopech's brief dalliance with disappointment quiets the chorus of anyone clamoring for his promotion. At this point, Kopech looks unlikely to beat rapidly rising outfielder Eloy Jimenez to the majors, and nobody should be surprised or upset. Teams don't promote minor-league starters unable to last four innings in four of his last eight starts because of command issues. So temporarily unplug the clock counting down the 2018 Chicago arrival of the Sox's future ace.
Let the Eloy Watch continue on the South Side _ the Tribune reported Tuesday that he likely will report to Charlotte later this week _ but cool the Kopech talk for now.
Three things about the most widely discussed Sox topics appear clear to me:
1. They should not trade first baseman Jose Abreu, an underrated star who means more to a young team full of impressionable Latino players than he would any other team.
Avoid using setback to describe the tough stretch Kopech has endured: In his first three starts in June, he gave up 14 earned runs and issued 17 walks over 11 innings. This is part of every young pitcher's evolution. This is when Kopech needs to remember patience can benefit a pitcher as much as a blazing fastball.
2. Jimenez looks on course to become one of those Sox players for Abreu to mentor by the July 31 trade deadline if he abuses Triple-A pitching like he did at the previous two minor-league levels.
3. Kopech needs more seasoning, no matter how nasty his stuff can be.
Maybe Kopech gets it together and makes an August appearance with the Sox. Maybe he becomes a September call-up to give him a taste of major-league life, a more plausible scenario at the moment. But to some degree, any pressure general manager Rick Hahn felt to accelerate Kopech's ascension through the minors has been lifted by the pitcher himself. The reality of the last few weeks changed the perception that Kopech should be replacing somebody in the Sox rotation immediately.
This is baseball. Just because everybody wants to increase the pace of play doesn't mean teams need to rush their top prospects to the majors. Kopech is still only 22, and the Sox understand the need to handle his development properly to give him the best chance to look back at a decade of dominance when he's 32 _ which still seems like a good bet.
"In Michael's instance, we're trying to develop a front-end starter," Hahn reminded reporters last week. "The difference between players who may not be having success up here is that they already have answered some of those questions at the minor-league level. They checked the boxes.
"There may come a point where you may have them go back for another finishing touch, take a half-step back (in the minors) to take two steps forward. But how any individual is doing in Chicago has zero impact on Michael Kopech's developmental plan or when Michael Kopech gets here. He's in control of that."
Hahn likely would be loath to admit it, but I wonder how much the inconsistency of pitching prospects Lucas Giolito and Carson Fulmer served as reminders to err on the side of caution with Kopech. Giolito, who still could become a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter, has been shaky enough that heads would nod in agreement if the Sox announced a brief demotion to Triple A. Fulmer, a 2015 first-round pick out of Vanderbilt, has traveled the Chicago-to-Charlotte shuttle so often that his place in the Sox's plans never has appeared murkier. That both pitchers were among the first prospects to make the majors doesn't necessarily mean they will last long with the Sox once other young arms begin to mature. Ideally, the competition for starting spots will be fierce.
In my projection of the ideal Sox rotation in 2020, when they finally become contenders again, pencil in Kopech and Carlos Rodon as the potential No. 1 and No. 2 starters. Reynaldo Lopez, the Sox's best starter in 2018, would fit nicely in the No. 3 role. Back-of-the-rotation candidates include Giolito, if he can persevere, and Dylan Cease, whose electric stuff merits a promotion to Double A. Promising prospects Alec Hansen and Dane Dunning, enjoying success in Birmingham, figure to inject themselves into the equation. Few organizations enjoy the pitching depth throughout the system that the Sox do. Many fans relish a possible rotation of Kopech-Rodon-Lopez-Cease-Dunning.
And what happens if Red Sox lefty Chris Sale, whose trade started the White Sox rebuild, hits free agency in 2020 and returns at age 31 to finish what he started in Chicago with a team ready to win? What a wonderful problem that would pose.
The Sox can dream. And Kopech can wait.
It will be worth it.
