Kopech: Good place, good space
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Michael Kopech’s frame of mind is worth noting.
Which player’s isn’t in a game some say is 90% mental? But he has been open about dealing with anxiety and depression in the past, and showing emotions on the mound — generally regarded as something pitchers should avoid — can be an issue on occasion.
To hear the thoughtful, introspective righty with the talented arm tell it, he is in a very good place going into the 2024 season. Perhaps the best he has been in a while.
“Yeah, yeah,” Kopech said after striking out five Cubs in two uneven but scoreless innings in his first outing of the spring Friday. “Hard not to. We have a great group of guys around us. I’m fortunate to have four little ones. Beautiful wife, I got baptized this offseason and I’m in a pretty good headspace.”
As for the White Sox, Kopech wants to be in a space where teammates new and old bond in a group that’s not expected to win much this season.
“We have an opportunity to do something pretty special with this club as far as changing things around, and I think that’s already happened,” he said.
Kopech, 27, enters his fourth full season. “Hard to say a veteran, but I’ve been around for a little bit longer than some of the guys, I guess,” Kopech said. “We have guys like [Jesse Chavez and Mike Moustakas], guys who have done it for a while now. It’s been cool to see from a distance as a fan and as a player on the other side, lead by example. And hopefully I can follow in a way that I can ultimately end up leading.”
Kopech struggled last season with a 5-12 record and 5.43 ERA and a major-leagueworst 91 walks. He was wild at the outset Friday, hitting a batter and walking one to open his outing, then recovered. He touched 97 and 98 mph on the scoreboard. When he was viewed as a top prospect, he was enamored with velocity readings that were even higher, but now he’s more about harnessing it.
“I’ve spoken to you guys pretty candidly about this in the past,” he said “Not to toot my horn in any way, but I’m never really worried about stuff. I’m always going to kind of be the guy who is trying to battle myself a little bit and stay in the zone because if I stay in the zone, I think I have stuff that plays against anybody in the league.
“But with that being said, it feels like it’s there. It’s there early right now, and hopefully I can continue to build off that and go into the season with a pretty good arsenal.”
The order in which starting pitchers are lined up to pitch in spring training usually reveals how the rotation is mapped out to start the season. Reading that, Kopech would be the fifth starter behind (in order) Dylan Cease, Erick Fedde, Michael Soroka and Chris Flexen in manager Pedro Grifol’s rotation. Grifol said Kopech is in a better place mentally “because he’s in a better place physically.”
“And he worked [in the offseason],” Grifol said. “It’s like taking a test. If you don’t study, you’re not in a good place mentally, physically or anything. But if you do, you’re ripping that test off the teacher’s hand. He studied; he did his thing in the offseason. He’s in a good place physically and mentally.”