Chicago White Sox Could Skip Over Young Starter's Turn in the Rotation

Though the Chicago White Sox are still in the playoff race, they are mulling over ways to keep young starter Michael Kopech fresh.

Though the Chicago White Sox are still in the playoff race by virtue of playing in the bad American League Central, the team could be taking a long-lens approach when it comes to starting pitcher Michael Kopech.

The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Manager Pedro Grifol indicated Thursday that Kopech could have his turn in the White Sox' rotation skipped this weekend, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

ANALYSIS
Kopech's next turn lines up for Sunday in Oakland, but the White Sox currently have that spot listed as TBA. The right-hander might make just one start next week prior to the All-Star break and then get an extended break before his first outing of the second half as the team looks to keep him fresh. Kopech is on pace for about 170 innings this season after throwing around 180 frames combined the previous two campaigns and zero from 2019-2020.

The 27-year-old was acquired from the Boston Red Sox before the 2017 in the deal that brought Yoan Moncada to Chicago and sent Chris Sale to Boston. He missed the end of 2018 and all of 2019 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and then opted out of the COVID 2020 season.

Once of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, he's gone 13-20 in his career with a 3.77 ERA. This year, he's 3-7 with a 4.08 ERA. Armed with electric stuff, he's struck out 97 batters in 86 innings.

The White Sox enter play on Thursday at 35-47 and 5.5 games back in the division race. They'll play the Angels on Thursday at 4:07 p.m. ET.

Follow Fastball on FanNation in social media

Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.