Waiting Game

White Sox starter Michael Kopech struck out ten Rangers yesterday in five innings of work in an 8-4 Sox win. White Sox starter Dylan Cease never strikes out ten batters in a game because he can’t get through five innings, not anymore. Cease is in his third year as a starter on the South Side. In 2019, twelve of his fourteen starts went 5-plus innings, of which six were 6-plus innings. In 2020, seven of his twelve starts went 5-plus innings, of which four were 6-plus innings. And this year? Well, three starts have gone 4.2 innings and one 3.1 innings. In thirty career starts, he’s struck out ten-plus batters once, that being eleven in a game against Cleveland in 2019. Cease is clearly regressing, so how long do you wait before making a change? Which brings us to Kopech, who has 27 strikeouts in 15.2 innings during the merry month of April. Take away his two starts, and the soon-to-be 25-year old right-hander still has thirteen punchouts in four games covering 7.2 innings as a reliever. As a starter, he has a 2.25 ERA vs. 1.17 in relief. Right now, the plan is for Kopech to work mostly in relief with some spot starts thrown in. Of course, Dylan Cease may have a say in this, if for all the wrong reasons. Stay tuned.