At 82 innings pitched, White Sox starter Michael Kopech could clear his career high for innings (119 2/3, set last year) sometime next month.
It’s something that can be seen guiding the team’s decisions for the 27-year-old right-hander. Manager Pedro Grifol cited managing Kopech’s workload when he pulled him after four innings and 86 pitches in his most recent outing. Pitching coach Ethan Katz said Saturday that the team plans to reorder the rotation after the All-Star break next month so that Kopech is the fifth starter and gets the most rest.
“[The breaks] are helpful and you can see that it’s needed and I understand the move, but at the same time the competitor in me wants to pitch as much as possible, as often as possible,” said Kopech, who is feeling the typical fatigue players feel right before the midseason break. “I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little tiredness. We’re getting close to the break, and that’s normal.”
But broadly, Kopech does not think he needs special treatment. The preseason goal he told the club he set for himself was what any major-league pitcher targets in 2023: over 30 starts, over 180 innings. Kopech concedes it might not happen, but it remains his mindset.
“It’s not really a caution-tape thing for me,” Kopech said. “I’m going to do my best to show I can take a full workload on this season. I would like to not use that as anything to slow me down. The team has a plan in mind, and we have to meet those requirements together.”
Moncada troubled by back
Third baseman Yoan Moncada is sidelined indefinitely by a recurrence of back pain caused by a protruding disc that he has dealt with since the end of spring training. He can take routine grounders, but Grifol said that Moncada’s back started to flare up after he charged a shorter grounder this month in New York and that he feels it most acutely while swinging. Moncada has yet to test out either of those movements.
That makes it unlikely Moncada could return before the All-Star break and brings much uncertainty for a 27-year-old who has seen a second consecutive season go sideways with injures that seeped into his performance.
“This kid loves to play the game, and it’s hurting him not being able to be out there,” Grifol said. “I don’t think there’s fear of him thinking he’s not going to be able to come back. There’s fear that it’s not responding the way he wants it to respond. And there’s fear of the unknown, like, ‘When is it going to?’ But he’s just got to keep working and see what happens.”
Anderson back at second base
Despite his manager emphasizing it was a short-term arrangement, Tim Anderson made his second consecutive start at second base. Grifol revealed that when Anderson initially proposed moving to the right side of the infield, it was because the two-time All-Star felt he was still 2-3 days away from his sore shoulder being able to handle all the throwing required at shortstop.
“It’s probably going to happen here in the near future, I just don’t know if it’s going to be tomorrow or on the road,” Grifol said. “He wants to be the shortstop. However, he’s putting all that aside and sacrificing that to be a part of this lineup. We all appreciate that.”
