White Sox: Kopech elects to sit out season
To see Michael Kopech hit triple digits on the radar gun in spring training provided extra oomph as the White Sox looked forward to the new season.
Some of that changed Friday.
Kopech became the latest major leaguer to opt out of the shortened season, the team announced late Friday afternoon.
"Michael Kopech has informed us of his decision to not participate in the 2020 season," GM Rick Hahn said in a news release.
"We recognize that reaching this decision is incredibly difficult for any competitive athlete, and our organization is understanding and supportive.
"We will work with Michael to assure his development continues throughout 2020, and we look forward to welcoming him back into our clubhouse for the 2021 season."
Kopech was being counted on either as a starter or a reliever after missing the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Kopech made one Cactus League appearance before COVID-19 stopped play March 12 and he pitched 1 scoreless inning.
"We talked about where Michael was in spring training and about how impressed we were with how he came out of the gate despite the layoff.
Hahn said at the start of camp Kopech was dealing with a personal matter, and he and manager Rick Renteria had been in contact with Kopech.
"It's obviously never ideal when any individual is dealing with off-field matters," Hahn said earlier this month. "It's easy, I suppose at times, to lose sight of the fact that you're dealing with human beings here. People have lives, people have families. People have all the same assortment of items to attend to that each and every other individual has."
Kopech, a highly-touted prospect acquired from the Red Sox in the Chris Sale trade, debuted with the White Sox late in the 2018 season and was 1-1 with a 5.02 ERA over 4 starts before injuring his elbow.
"It's not ideal, but fundamentally, we're looking to put all our players in the best position they can be to perform and maximize their abilities on the field," Hahn said the first week of July. "If there's anything standing in the way of that, we're going to provide them with whatever support and resources they need to help address those matters.
"We fully support Michael and are going to provide him with whatever time and resources he needs and look forward to seeing him in the future."
• Daily Herald sports writer Scot Gregor contributed to this story.