CHICAGO — Michael Kopech was going to be the pitcher who ended the Red Sox' drought.
Not since Clay Buchholz, who made his major league debut in 2007, have the Red Sox drafted/signed and developed a starting pitcher who's thrown 100 innings in a season as a starter or won in double-figures.
Kopech, a first-round pick in the 2014 draft, was going to change all of that. Kopech had a triple-digit fastball to go with plenty of swagger and, in time, he was going to reach the big leagues and be a staple of the rotation for years to come.
He would be what Henry Owens and Anthony Ranaudo and Michael Bowden and Casey Kelly were supposed to be — a homegrown ace. Some were given chances and failed. Some were traded away and fell short elsewhere. Kopech, though, would be the one who did what the others failed to do -- take his considerable talent to the big leagues and dominate there.
Then, Chris Sale happened.
With an opportunity to land one of the best starters in the game, one with three years of control on an affordable contract, Dave Dombrowski understandably agreed to give up Yoan Moncada, Kopech and two others to land Sale. It's a move Dombrowski would make again, no matter how many games Kopech goes on to win in the future for the White Sox.
In time, that trade will probably be one in which both teams can claim to have gotten what they wanted.
Kopech, who made his major-league debut last month and pitched three shutout innings against his former organization Friday night before rain intervened, has arrived, nearly fully formed. He's got a plus-plus fastball, improved command and quality secondary pitches.
But given their inability to graduate dependable starters to the big leagues, I was curious if Kopech detected any major differences between the two organizations, something that would explain the Sox' ongoing development difficulties.
"That's hard to say because it was two different points in my career,'' said Kopech. "Obviously, with the Red Sox, I was coming out of high school and there were a lot of things that needed to be cleaned up. I needed to mature a whole lot physically. I needed to focus on cleaning up so many moving parts. Then, when I got over (to the White Sox organization), it was mainly direction that I needed to work on and I did that here. I just came into this (Chicago) organization at a much different phase of my career.
"So it was just really two different stages. Both organizations were extremely helpful towards my development and the fact that I spent the last two years here, I really credit them a lot because that's what got me to this point in my career.''
Kopech was suggesting that the Red Sox minor league personnel helped him make the early-career transition from touted high schooler to professional pitcher, while the White Sox handled the finer, finishing points. Two jobs done by two organizations.
But Kopech also noted an important distinction between the two: The Red Sox, who've won three World Series in the last 14 years and are coming off two straight division titles, are more invested in maintaining a championship-caliber roster while the White Sox, who've won one pennant in the last 58 seasons and are seemingly constantly rebuilding. Given their widely different situations and expectations, it's hard to compare the two.
"No matter what year you're in with the Red Sox,'' Kopech said, "they want to win right now, so they're more focused on the big league side of things — and I completely understand that. It's why I'm here (with the White Sox) in the first place, because they traded for Sale. And when I got here, I just feel like the development side was just as important as the big league side. I think right now, we're really focused on long-term, big picture.''
That's not to suggest that because the Red Sox are trying to win in Boston that they don't provide the proper coaching or instruction to their minor leaguers. After all, at the same time that they've come up short in developing starting pitching, they've done a fine job developing position players -- Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts are shining examples of the minor league system's penchant for providing a steady influx of everyday players to the parent club.
As for the pitching side, the drought -- and the search -- continues.
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