White Sox pitcher's rough campaign ends with minor knee surgery

White Sox right-hander Michael Kopech underwent surgery to remove a cyst from his right knee Friday morning, per a club announcement. The rehab process is expected to take six-to-eight weeks.

Assuming his recovery progresses as anticipated, Kopech should have a normal offseason. It’s nevertheless a sour conclusion to a disappointing year for the 27-year-old. The Sox surely hoped the one-time top prospect would take a step forward in his second full season as a big league starter. Kopech had pitched to a 3.54 ERA a year ago and while his peripherals were never that impressive, his performance regressed well beyond expectations.

Kopech’s 2023 campaign concludes with a 5.43 ERA across 129 1/3 frames. His 22.7 percent strikeout rate was a bit above last year’s mark. Yet his walks spiked from an already worrisome 11.5 percent rate to a completely untenable 15.4 percent clip. Kopech also surrendered over two home runs per nine innings. Between the walks and the longballs, he has the highest FIP (6.47) of any pitcher with 100+ frames.

Chicago kicked Kopech to the bullpen this month. He finished his season with three relief outings and a “start” as an opener in which he worked one inning. He allowed at least one run in each of those appearances.

New general manager Chris Getz and his front office will have to decide Kopech’s role this offseason. He was effective as a multi-inning reliever two seasons ago, tallying 69 1/3 frames of 3.50 ERA ball with an elite 36.1 percent strikeout rate and a decent 8.4 percent walk percentage. Since stretching back out into the rotation to open the ’22 campaign, he’s allowing 4.52 earned runs per nine with a 22 percent strikeout percentage and 13.6 percent walk rate.

The Sox have almost no certainty in their starting five. Dylan Cease is locked in as the staff ace, though he’s coming off a relatively disappointing season himself on the heels of last year’s Cy Young runner-up performance. Mike Clevinger is likely to opt for a $4M buyout over his end of a $12M mutual option. Jesse Scholtens and Touki Toussaint are better served for depth roles. Garrett Crochet has angled for a starting spot, but only logged 10 MLB innings this year because of injury.

That all seems to point to Kopech getting another crack at a rotation spot. He’ll certainly need to perform better than he did this year if he’s to hold that job for a full season. The ’24 campaign will be his second season of arbitration eligibility. Kopech will receive a slight raise on this year’s $2.05M salary (barring a surprise non-tender) and is on track for free agency after 2025.