Future Watch: Michael Kopech Rookie Baseball Cards, White Sox – Michael Kopech was selected by the Boston Red Sox with the 33rd overall pick in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft. He starred at Mt. Pleasant High School in Mt. Pleasant, TX. The Texan was 3-0 with a microscopic ERA of 0.44, that propelled him in the draft.
His first eight games in rookie ball weren’t great. He had no decisions, a 4.61 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 13 innings. He had some work to do.
The next season he pitched for the Greenville Drive in A-ball. There he was 4-5 with a 2.60 ERA. He had 70 strikeouts in 65 innings. 2015 was great and he had a lot to look forward to in 2016. In 2016, he was 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA. He had an eye-popping 86 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings! During that season, he had a pitch clocked at 105 MPH!!
Last season he was 8-7 with the Birmingham Barons. He threw 119 1/3 innings and managed to strike out 155 in the process. He got promoted to Triple-A.
During the offseason, at the 2016 Winter Meetings, Kopech was traded to the White Sox in the Chris Sale deal along with four other players. He would start 2017 with a new organization.
Collectors can get his 2017 Bowman Chrome autographed rookie card.
Pitching for the Charlotte Knights he was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA. He struck out 17 batters in 15 innings. One day when he was warming up on flat ground with a run-up he threw a pitch 110 MPH. This was unofficial but still impressive. He was an all-star and he played in the MLB Futures Game.
Here’s that pitch:
Few Minor-League starters have a better fastball than Kopech, who sits at 96-98 mph and reaches triple digits with nasty late life. His breaking ball can also look make hitters look bad, as he has refined what once was a hybrid pitch into a slider that reaches the low 90s. The silver lining with his suspension is that it gave him some time to work on his changeup outside of game action, and it shows signs of becoming a weapon with late drop at the plate. ETA 2018.
He’s just 21 and could be a superstar in the making.
You can follow him on Twitter @MichaelKopech5
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