Benetti: Kopech goal's reach far beyond his 100 mph fastball
On Dec. 6, 2016, Michael Kopech's Sox blanched while he was on ice.
"I was in a cryotherapy chamber, right after I got done working out," Kopech recalled. "A few of the guys I was working out with were standing outside of the chamber when I got out. They're all just staring at me. It was pretty surreal. A buddy of mine told me I got traded for Chris Sale."
From Red to White in three minutes.
"It's a magical chamber we have there," Kopech said with a laugh.
The transformation is Marvel meets MLB. And for the newly minted White Sox prospect who has shown he can throw a three-ounce ball 110 miles per hour, super hero status isn't out of the question.
The weaponized right arm was born - with the rest of the body - between Dallas and Texarkana, in Mount Pleasant, Texas, a town that seems to churn out Chicago-bound athletes once every decade or two (former Chicago Bears Super Bowl-winning punter Maury Buford and Brian-Urlacher-predecessor Barry Minter grew up in Mount Pleasant).
It was there that Kopech's starboard upper limb became a major part of his identity.
"I've always thrown harder than most people my age," Kopech said in a March conversation outside the White Sox spring training complex in Glendale, Arizona. "Then, as I got older, I realized how much I wanted to feed off of that and how much I liked watching guys that threw hard just dominate hitters when they were able to command the zone."
Those guys include Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and, thanks to YouTube, Nolan Ryan. With those tutors-on-video, it's no surprise that Kopech vividly remembers the first time the radar gun struck 100.
"I always wanted to hit triple digits just because it's triple digits and everyone sees that and the numbers kind of light up people's eyes," Kopech said. "That was a big goal for me."
It happened May 1, 2015, the day after his 19th birthday.
"Greenville (The Red Sox A-ball team) was playing the Nationals Low-A affiliate and we were in Hagerstown (Maryland)," Kopech reminisced. "We didn't have a board that said it, but some of my teammates that were charting in the stands that day came up and told me afterwards. I didn't believe them at first, but they showed me and I hit it a couple of times."
Kopech has opened 2017 two levels up from there, in Double-A with the Birmingham Barons. He's thrown twice and already pinged 101 on the gun. Friday night he fought his control, both striking out 5 and walking 5 in 3 ⅔ innings. In his first regular-season start in White Sox-sanctioned threads, Kopech struck out 10 prospective Diamondbacks in compiling 13 total outs. It was the largest strikeout total for a Barons player since 2014. It's one memory of what Kopech hopes is many.
"I want to be a Hall of Famer one day. I don't think it's enough to just want to be a big-leaguer because that could be a day and my career's over if that's my only dream. I realize it's hard enough to become a big-leaguer in general, but I've put in the work and the time, and I think if I keep putting in the work and the time that it'll come."
• Jason Benetti is a play-by-play broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, as well as ESPN. Follow him on Twitter @jasonbenetti.