Kopech starting to 'embrace' relief role with White Sox

A starting pitcher before injuring his elbow late in the 2018 season, recovering from Tommy John surgery the following year and opting out in 2020, Michael Kopech is back in a big way.

With a fastball that regularly flies close to 100 mph and a biting slider, he's become a relief pitcher to fear coming out of the White Sox bullpen.

In his heart and mind, Kopech will probably always be a starter, and odds are very good the right-hander will be back in the Sox rotation next year.

For now, Kopech is enjoying pitching big innings in front of Craig Kimbrel and Liam Hendriks, a pair of established closers.

"I'm trying to embrace the new role I'm put in," Kopech said. "But since kind of making that transition, I guess it's been a lot of fun, it's kind of a learning curve there for a second.

"But I'm starting to feel competition as soon as I touch the ball no matter what the situation is. As long as we can keep that going throughout the rest of the season, I think I'll be in a good spot."

In Monday night's win over Oakland, Kopech relieved starter Dallas Keuchel in the sixth inning.

Called on to protect a 3-2 lead, Kopech pitched 2 scoreless innings and had 3 strikeouts while dropping his ERA to 2.42.

Given his two-year layoff, Kopech has been getting at least two days of rest after pitching 2 innings of relief. If he goes 1 inning, he can pitch consecutive days.

Kopech has a had a solid August, giving up 1 run in 6 innings. On July 31, he pitched 1 inning against the Indians and allowed 5 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk.

"You have a rough one like that and it's easy to go back to the drawing board and figure out what you're not doing well and what you are doing well," Kopech said. "It can really be a downward spiral if you go deep in that rabbit hole. But just going back and getting confident in what I've been doing all year and throwing every pitch with conviction, little stuff like that helped me get back on track."