Michael Kopech

Michael Talbert Kopech (born April 30, 1996 in Longview, Texas) is a right-handed pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and a former starter for the Birmingham Barons.

Kopech accepted a scholarship to the University of Arizona out of Mount Pleasant High School, but was instead drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He accepted a $1.6 million signing bonus and began his professional career in Fort Myers, Florida with the Red Sox of the Gulf Coast League. He got 8 starts, compiling a 0-1 record with a 4.61 earned run average.

Kopech began the 2015 season with the Single-A Greenville Drive going 4-5 with a 2.63 ERA in 15 games and earning an invitation to the South Atlantic League All-Star Game. In July he was given a 50-game suspension after testing positive for oxilofrine. Kopech denied having knowingly taken the drug, which is sometimes an undeclared ingredient in supplements marketed to athletes. During spring training the next year he was involved in a fight with a roommate and fractured his right hand. He was able to return for the start of the season with the Low-A Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League, and was soon promoted to the Salem Red Sox of the High-A Carolina League. In 11 starts he compiled a 4-1 record with a 2.08 ERA, striking out 86 batters. He was named the league's Player of the Month for August. One of his fastballs was clocked at 105 miles per hour.

Kopech and three other Red Sox prospects were traded to the Chicago White Sox for left-handed pitcher Chris Sale in December 2016. He began the 2017 season with the Birmingham Barons. In the first half of the season, he went 4-3 with a 2.93 ERA and was named the started for the North Division in the Southern League All-Star Game in Pensacola, Florida.

During that season, Kopech, who was dating Brielle Biermann, appeared on the Bravo reality television series "Don't Be Tardy". Kopech also played in the 2017 All-Star Futures Game in Tampa, Florida. By August he had recorded 155 strikeouts in 22 starts, and was promoted to the International League's AAA Charlotte Knights. After a brief stop there, he made his Major League debut with the White Sox on August 21. He underwent Tommy John surgery on September 18. He did not play in 2019 or 2020.

In January 2020 he married actor Vanessa Morgan, but filed for divorce five months later. She bore him a son, River, in January 2021, shortly before their divorce was finalized. Kopech returned to the White Sox staff in 2021. During that season he made 44 appearances, including 4 starts, and compiled a 4-3 record with a 3.50 ERA.

He rejoined Chicago's starting rotation in 2022, but was hampered by a knee sprain and shoulder inflammation during the season, and also took a short paternity leave when his girlfriend Morgan Eudy delivered his second child, Vander. He made 25 starts, going 5-9 with a 3.54 ERA. He signed a new 1-year $2.05 million contract in January 2023. In 30 appearances that year he went 5-12 with a 5.43 ERA. In September he had a cyst removed from his knee and missed the remainder of the season. They married in December while she was pregnant with another child. Clover.

Kopech returned to bullpen duties in 2024. He pitched an "immaculate inning" (9 consecutive strikes) in relief against the Minnesota Twins on July 10.

References

• Grebenyuk, Yana (July 8, 2024) "White Sox Pitcher Michael Kopech’s Family Guide: Ex-Wife Vanessa Morgan, Wife Morgan Eudy and His Kids." Us
• "Michael Kopech" (July 11, 2024) Wikipedia - accessed July 12, 2024

External links

• Michael Kopech at MLB.com
• Michael Kopech at baseball-reference.com