Rozner: Kopech's education with White Sox just beginning

It is not a sin to throw 100 mph, nor does it guarantee a trip to baseball heaven.

There have been dozens of starters who threw very hard and made it very big, like Sandy Koufax, Dwight Gooden, Randy Johnson, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens and Justin Verlander, to name just a few.

And many more who flirted with greatness, like J.R. Richard, Kerry Wood, Mark Wohlers, Neftali Feliz, Billy Wagner, Lee Smith and Aroldis Chapman, but never satisfied their promise as starters because of bad luck, injury, illness or a failure to harness their power.

Some wound up as closers because of an inability to develop a third pitch, or because their repertoire simply wasn't good enough to consistently manage more than an inning.

Michael Kopech, at 22 years old, is just the latest monster prospect to make it to the big leagues with an extraordinary arm, but it will take much more than that to meet expectations.

"The only one that he has to conquer is himself. The stuff is there," said White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone, who arrived in the big leagues himself as a very hard thrower at the age of 23. "The question is whether he'll be able to fight through the surge of adrenaline he's going to get on a major league mound each time out.

"With Kerry Wood, what jumped out was not the fastball. A lot of guys throw hard. What jumped out was the secondary stuff, the slider and curve.

"Those were as close to unhittable as any pitches I've ever seen. It was just a question of getting it over the plate. When he did, nobody hit it.

"If not for injuries, the sky was the limit."

Stone also suffered from arm injuries as a young pitcher and he had to reinvent himself as a curveball artist later in his career when he finally hit it big for a short time.

"The big advantage for Kopech right now is the quality of the baseball team," Stone said. "When I made the Giants in 1971, I was the third starter behind two Hall of Famers, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry. That team was supposed to win.

"There wasn't a whole lot of patience for me and I had some arm problems.

"Kopech is coming to the Sox at a time with a team building for the future. They're going to be more patient with him."

Still, the learning curve will be steep.

"The big difference is there will be five or six guys in the lineup that can hurt him if he doesn't throw strikes," Stone explained. "You don't pay near as much a price in the minors as you do up here if you fall behind in the count.

"There's such a radical difference between 0-2 or 2-0, 1-2 or 2-1. Those are pitches that will get your head knocked off in the majors if you throw them enough.

"If he falls behind a lot, he'll find out that even with his big fastball it's not going to help him. It doesn't matter who you are. It took some really good pitchers a long time to figure that out.

"There are some guys who came up and dominated right away, but there's not a whole lot of those. We'll have to see which guy Michael Kopech is going to be.

"But you can't teach velocity. You can't teach size. You can't teach strength. He seems to have all of those. Now, you have to teach pitchability, the ability to hit your spots when you're looking to hit your spots.

"Velocity will allow you to get away with a few more mistakes, but not a whole lot if you're falling behind."

In his short start Tuesday night on the South Side, Kopech threw first-pitch strikes to 7 of the 10 batters he faced and still needed 52 pitches to get through 2 scoreless on 3 hits, a hit batter and 4 strikeouts.

It didn't help that he was squeezed a couple times by home plate ump C.B. Bucknor, but he showed that he could locate his changeup, which will be huge.

"I was able to throw the changeup with good command and have them swing over it," Kopech said of the Minnesota lineup. "That was probably the highlight of my night."

Nothing that happens over these final six weeks will determine Kopech's fate, but it's a surprising opportunity he's getting to wet his feet and learn at the big-league level.

It doesn't mean he won't suffer at times as his education begins in earnest.

"We're excited to see Michael challenged by the next level here in the coming weeks," said GM Rick Hahn. "I think he's going to handle the challenges well. He's already been challenged some over the last 12 months.

"He's been answering questions about his readiness for over a year and he's been answering questions about the struggles he had earlier this season for a good portion of this season.

"While keeping in mind we're talking about a 22-year-old kid, and we're talking about his first exposure on the biggest stage, we do feel like he is extremely well equipped to handle those challenges."

But Hahn is ever aware of what can happen to young pitchers who think they are prepared for major league hitters.

"Don't expect everything to forever go smoothly over the next several years of his development, as is the case with every young kid," Hahn said. "But at the same time, we know that he is a mentally strong individual.

"Even your most well-equipped prospect is going to go through difficulties over the course of the early part of their career as the league adjusts to what the player presents."

It will not be easy. That much is certain. There will some very good and there will be some very bad. That is also guaranteed.

But Kopech has ability that can't be taught. Now, he must teach himself to manage his way through major league lineups - lineups that are not forgiving when you fall behind or get into trouble.

It's also certain that it will be fascinating to observe.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.