What Goes Around....

The probability of Tommy John surgery for his top pitching prospect certainly wiped the smug off of Rick Hahn’s face.  When the White Sox GM told reporters on Friday that surgery loomed in the next couple of weeks for Michael Kopech, it was a different Hahn, not at all like the one seen bloviating earlier in the week on the status of Eloy Jimenez.  This Hahn seemed to be operating with a little less wind in his sails.

The 22-year old Kopech lasted all of four starts with the Sox.  The righty said something felt off when he was warming up for his most recent game, against the Tigers.  What he thought was routine soreness turned out to be a torn ulner collateral ligament in his right elbow.  Surgery means Kopech likely won’t throw his next major-league pitch until the 2020 season (unless Hahn gets worried about the issue of service time, in which case, who knows?).   That suggests a possible marketing slogan for next season:  Hey, fans, don’t die for another two years, if you can help it.

One interesting fact I read in the Tribune’s story on Kopech—five right-handed pitchers among the top 100 prospects going into the 2018 season have suffered surgery-worthy elbow injuries.  Had I known that Friday night, when Michele asked me how such an injury could happen to someone so young, I would’ve had some numbers to back up my answer.  (Let me also note here my daughter was reluctant to call me with the news on Friday, thinking I’d be really mad.  Oh, cricket, Zen has filled me with inner peace.)

What I said was kids throw as hard as they can from the moment they get serious about pitching.  Yes, 15-year olds always threw hard, but I doubt it was with the same velocity motivated by thoughts of a college scholarship and/or signing bonus after being drafted by a major-league team.  I’m sure those sugar-plum visions have added a few miles of giddyup to every pitch thrown by adolescents across America and all the other sources of baseball talent.  Pitching maybe more than any other athletic activity is subject to the laws of Charles Darwin.  Only the strong survive, and trying to reach 100 mph in high school is a little like asking for a fight with that really big lion.

Michael Kopech once was clocked throwing a baseball at 108 mph.  Little did he know that constituted an invitation to Mr. Lion.