Rozner: While Kopech injury news is devastating, it shouldn't be shocking

Michael Kopech did not look like the same Michael Kopech on Wednesday night.

As he warmed up on the mound before a match with the Tigers on the South Side, he was fidgety and uncomfortable, seemingly unable to find his rhythm.

Kopech took that right into the game, when he allowed 7 runs on 9 hits with 4 home runs in only 3⅓ innings.

It was ugly.

You wondered why his breaking stuff was flat and his fastball velocity down considerably.

Kopech said it was merely bad mechanics and even blamed himself for poor preparation.

If your mind took a dark turn, if you pondered the injury possibility, you wouldn't be alone.

It's only natural.

After all, pitchers get hurt when you least expect it, and pitchers throw with pain every day, sometimes going years or even entire careers with injuries they can manage.

So while it was with great disappointment that White Sox fans got the news late Friday afternoon from the team Twitter account that Kopech was done for the year with an elbow injury - and facing Tommy John surgery - it really shouldn't be a shock.

You simply can't be shocked anymore when a pitcher misses a year with an elbow injury.

It's why you collect as many starters as you can, whether in full rebuild or not, because some will make it, some will bust out and some will get hurt.

This is life as a big league pitcher.

"I assumed after every start it was soreness. Some starts I thought it might be a little more sore than others," Kopech said Friday. "I just didn't ever put it in the category of pain."

The bad news is Kopech loses a year of development. Having brought him up when they did, Kopech will use a year of team control to rehab as he misses the entire 2019 season.

The good news is Kopech can return from Tommy John as good as he ever was, assuming all goes well, and can still be everything the White Sox hoped he would be when they acquired him in the Chris Sale trade.

"This is obviously a blow and something we are still digesting," said Sox General Manager Rick Hahn. "We believe Michael will be fully without restriction at the start of the 2020 season and in a position to build off what we feel is a very bright future."

It's been a rough year for White Sox prospects, bad luck being the only kind the organization has had in 2018. It does not mean that the rebuild won't work, but there have been significant individual setbacks this season.

That is also part of the process and Kopech is just the latest and highest profile.

"It's obviously a disappointment," Hahn said. "But it's one that we try to prepare ourselves for along the way.

"You've heard us speak repeatedly throughout this process about the importance of depth, the importance of having quality options and the importance of never feeling like we had enough.

"We have other quality arms coming through the system behind Michael that will contribute here in the coming years.

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait a little bit longer until we start seeing (Kopech) on a regular basis."

Kopech absolutely looked the part when he arrived two weeks ago, a surprising promotion given service time considerations. There were moments when he appeared to be every bit as dominant as advertised, and the energy he brought to the ballclub was palpable.

"It's been a whirlwind of emotions for me in the past couple weeks," Kopech said. "I went from my absolute peak to the absolute rock bottom. To say it was unexpected would be an understatement.

"If you're looking for a specific pitch or date, I couldn't tell you. I just thought it was discomfort. I thought it was something I could throw through.

"My last couple starts, my velocity has been a little bit down. I didn't think much of it. I just thought it wasn't there right now.

"But I did think it would be better to get it checked after my start from a couple days ago, just to see if there was something I can fix. This isn't the answer I expected."

The answer is surgery that will keep him out until the spring of 2020, when he should be joining a rotation preparing to compete for a playoff spot.

But the history of Tommy John tells us Kopech won't be Kopech again until 2021. If that occurs, all will be forgotten and the Sox will be right where they want to be.

Until then, Michael Kopech is facing some long and lonely days.

Such is the life of a major league pitcher.

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.