White Sox still playing waiting game with Jimenez, Kopech
Since the Chicago White Sox launched a needed rebuild two months after the 2016 season, fans have been overwhelmingly understanding. They've been patient.
That changed a bit on Friday.
Asked again when top prospects Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech are going to be joining the Sox's roster, general manager Rick Hahn declined to give any specific information.
"There's no additional update on that," Hahn said.
For a growing number of White Sox faithful who took to social media before and during Friday night's game against the Blue Jays, Jimenez and Kopech should be in the majors leagues right now.
Many blame the Sox for being cheap and wanting to delay starting the duo's service time until early next season.
The guess here is Jimenez and Koepch are both in Sox uniforms at some point in August.
Jimenez, 21, went 3-for-4 with a run-scoring double for Class AAA Charlotte Friday night, raising his batting average to a sizzling .372. The outfielder also has 6 home runs and 13 RBI in 23 games with Charlotte.
Jimenez started the season with AA Birmingham and batted .317 with 10 homers and 42 RBI in 53 games.
Kopech is 4-7 with a 4.26 ERA in 20 starts with Charlotte. The 22-year-old righty leads the International League with 135 strikeouts (in 99⅓ innings).
Over his last three starts, Kopech has allowed 4 earned runs in 17 innings while striking out 24 and issuing 2 walks.
Hahn sees the good in his best young players.
"They're both performing very well right now," the White Sox's GM said. "The last three starts out of Kopech, two of them have been great, one of them has been real good. Eloy, obviously in his 10 games since he's been off the DL, has been on fire. A little bit longer resume of consistency there will serve them both well."
With the Sox heading for their sixth straight losing season, they don't need any kind of sudden spark to get them back on a winning track.
Hahn has preached patience since Day 1 of the rebuild and he's not going to veer away from the philosophy now.
"We've talked about all along that the good ones do have a way of forcing the issue on you," Hahn said. "At the same time, the important thing for us in any promotion, whether it's Eloy and Kopech or (Yoan) Moncada, (Lucas) Giolito and (Reynaldo) Lopez last year, or the hopefully legion of guys you'll be asking about over the next 18 to 24 months, the most important thing is that they're in a position to have long-term success for us, that they're in a position to succeed not just survive," Hahn said.
"You can look at a stat line or a box score and say, 'This guy looks like he's doing well, looks like he's ready.' Our checklist that we want these guys to answer is a little more lengthy than that. And not until they've answered all those questions we have for them at the minor league level will we promote them."
For Jimenez, he still likely needs more Triple-A experience before joining the White Sox. For Kopech, he needs to keep limiting the walk total and show he can get outs with his off-speed stuff.
"It's not going to be a function of any level of eagerness that fans or coaches or myself or the front office has," Hahn said of key prospect promotions. "That's not prudent for the long term. And one thing I can promise is that our focus is unwavering in terms of putting this organization in the best spot for the long term.
"We're not going to take any shortcuts or make any short-term satisfying moves that could potentially cause any impact on these guys not meeting their potential for the long term."