Kopech fans career-high 12 for Barons

Michael Kopech went to the Futures Game and came back a changed pitcher.
The top White Sox pitching prospect capped a run of strong July outings with a career-high 12 strikeouts while allowing one run on two hits over six innings as the Double-A Birmingham Barons beat the Chattanooga Lookouts, 3-1, on Wednesday.

"There were some mechanical adjustments that needed to be made around the All-Star Break," Kopech said after his third straight win. "Coming off the All-Star Break with the Futures Game behind me and a couple other good outings, I feel like I'm in as good a place as I can be right now. I feel like I'm able to repeat a lot better, and I'm just comfortable taking the mound no matter who I'm facing."
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Baseball's No. 12 overall prospect was already in the midst of a strong first season at Double-A, but heading to Miami for Major League Baseball's prospect showcase on July 9 came at a good time. Kopech had dropped four of his last six starts and his ERA had spiked from 2.38 to 4.02 over that span.
"It did wonders for me honestly," he said. "A Minor League season's not as long as a big league season, but it can be torturous on your mind with the amount of bus trips and, you know, I could go on. The thing is to actually have these opportunities to go to a couple different All-Star Games and have a chance to break that up, it gives you almost a second wind for the next half."
That jolt of energy was evident against the Lookouts. Kopech's night started on the wrong note when he walked Nick Gordon to lead off the first -- one of two free passes on the night. The No. 2 Twins prospect scored two batters later on an RBI single by Jonathan Rodriguez, but the righty immediately settled in.
"It goes back to fastball command. The first inning, I don't think it was quite there. It might have been because I was facing [Nick Gordon], and I have a history with Gordon. I wanted to compete with him," Kopech said of his former Surprise Saguaros teammate in last year's Arizona Fall League. "It got out of hand, but after that, the second through the sixth [inning], I felt like my fastball command was there and I didn't really have to worry about that anymore."
Kopech didn't face more than one base-runner in any of his final five frames and peppered his line with strikeouts, fanning two batters in the first through fourth, one in the fifth and striking out the side in the sixth to close his night. Carlos Paulino's one-out single in the fifth was the only other hit Kopech allowed.
"I kind of had gotten away from my direction to the plate," he said of his All-Star Break adjustments. "I started to spin off away toward first base when I threw my pitches, and it led to a lot more walks than I wanted this year. But right now, I feel like I'm commanding my fastball as good as ever because I'm able to keep my direction to the plate and through the zone. That's something that I was doing really well in the Fall League last year, and I kind of got away from it this year."

From June 6 to July 4, Kopech went 0-4 with a 7.46 ERA in six starts, allowing 21 earned runs on 27 hits in 25 1/3 innings. He walked 22 to water down 26 strikeouts over that span. Since his return from the Futures Game, where his fastball touched 101 mph during a perfect third inning in the United States' win, the righty has gone 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three outings. He's given up two runs on 10 hits in 20 innings, striking out 25 while walking four in that time. Kopech has gone at least six innings in all three and delivered eight scoreless frames with eight whiffs and no walks on July 20.
"(Birmingham's pitching coach) José Bautista gave me a few pointers after one of my rough outings, and it clicked with me again," he said. "I just feel like I'm able to repeat it a lot better now than I did the first half of the year."
On MLB Pipeline's updated Top 100 Prospects list, Kopech is now the top pitching talent in the Minor Leagues, and he's the No. 3 prospect in a loaded White Sox system. Chicago boasts eight Top-100 players and 527 prospect points -- with points assigned to systems based on each player's spot in the rankings -- tied with Atlanta for the most of any organization.
"We're incredibly excited," he said. "I think it's almost a daily conversation, and if not, it's a weekly conversation about how good we're going to be in the future. We all want to be there right away, but we know that's not the case. But when we do get there, our main goal is to help the big league club win. For us to be raking in all this talent already with the amount of unreal talent we have in the big leagues right now, it's pumping us up."
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Wednesday's win reaffirmed what Kopech has been aiming for his last few times out and what he'll be eyeing next time out as he continues to take steps toward Chicago.
"First-pitch strike, whether that's a fastball or breaking ball or changeup, whatever the case may be, first-pitch strikes are really going to help me out," he said. "I think that's something that I tried to take off my last outing. It allowed me to go eight without having a walk, so just getting ahead of hitters is going to be key for me throughout the rest of the year."