(670 The Score) The White Sox plan to move right-hander Michael Kopech into their starting rotation in 2022, general manager Rick Hahn said Friday, while left-hander Garrett Crochet's future role has less clarity.
"We envision Michael Kopech leaving the bullpen and joining the rotation," Hahn said.
The White Sox are set to bring back four of their five starters from 2021 in right-hander Lance Lynn, right-hander Lucas Giolito, right-hander Dylan Cease and left-hander Dallas Keuchel. Left-hander Carlos Rodon will be a free agent, barring the remote possibility of him signing a qualifying offer. While the White Sox would like to bring Rodon back, he could be priced out of their range.
Kopech's shift to the rotation would give the White Sox five main starters even if Rodon exits, but they'll still need more depth for various reasons. Kopech threw 69 1/3 innings in 2021 after missing the previous two seasons, so he's unlikely to carry a full starter's workload across a 162-game season. Keuchel also struggled mightily in posting a 5.28 ERA in 162 innings in 2021, creating concerns about his effectiveness moving forward.
The 22-year-old Crochet could pick up some of the slack, but it doesn't sound like he's in line to be a starter all that often in 2022. His role for next season is undetermined, and Hahn floated the possibility of a long relief role for Crochet while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
"We still view him as having the potential to be a starter long term," Hahn said.
Crochet had a 2.82 ERA in 54 1/3 innings in 2021, when all 54 of his appearances came out of the bullpen.
All in all, Hahn liked what he saw from his starters in 2021, when the White Sox's rotation posted a 3.57 ERA, which was the fourth-best mark in MLB. But he also knows his rotation has to get better, as it faltered in the playoffs against the Astros, who eliminated the White Sox in four games in the American League Division Series behind a strong offense.
"Over the course of the regular season, I believe we led the American League in the fewest earned runs allowed and led all of baseball in wins above replacement for our pitchers," Hahn said. "But in the end, over the last four days, it didn't show up the way we had envisioned. Now, was that because of a different environment in the playoffs or preparation or fatigue finally kicking in after going from 60 games to 162? There's a lot of possible explanations, many of which we spent a lot of time debating and evaluating here. I think short answer, if that's possible at this time, is we have a great deal of faith in our pitching staff going forward, but it would be foolish of us to sit here and they aren't ways for us to get better – despite as strong as it was over the course of those six months.
"Probably just about like every team that has World Series aspirations, we will look for ways to make what we feel is a strength even stronger in terms of our rotation and bullpen."
