The Michael Kopech Situation

It hardly needs to be said that all Sox fans wish the young man the best, whatever his situation is. Only those close to him really know what is going on.

No one has to play baseball. No one has to choose this as a career. No one is obligated to keep playing a game they have played since they could stand up and hold a bat and ball.

No one has to play baseball during a worldwide health crisis.

Now, moving on from Kopech specifically, there are a few things in general to look at about players in his situation.

Young 20-Somethings who make the Major Leagues have never faced that top level of talent before. Young baseball studs are the best guy on the field for most of their young lives coming up, and their competition gets tougher while they move up the ranks.

Young talented players are like most people. Things seem fine as long as things seem fine. But when adversity comes along, that is when a player faces a part of himself that has been mostly hidden. Handling tough times. Not used to it. Youth and talent kept that tough stuff away.

There have been countless players that made MLB that had unbelievable talent. But, for whatever reason, the world never knew their names because something was missing.

Maybe it was premature injury. Maybe it was putting too much pressure on himself to make it. Family and friends are watching your development and bragging about you for years. Now, everyone can openly see how you’re doing and that is a lot of pressure and hype to live up to.

Pressure brings out the kind of person you are. Some people thrive on it, crave it, want the spotlight. Others begin to melt when the game situation or just the pressures of top competition begin to wear on them.

As fans, we are used to "Rooting For Laundry". We root for a team logo, for a home ballpark, and for our memories and personal attachments to a team. The players come and go. They are interchangeable. We don’t really know them as human beings.

But, situations like Kopech and many others reminds us that these guys are human beings with talents, flaws, weaknesses and strengths. They don’t know what to expect from themselves any more than we can know what to expect from ourselves from day to day.

It’s in times like this (including with our coping with This Damn Virus) that reminds us that we are all humans, whether we put on a uniform in an MLB park, or if we just listen for the sounds of fireworks going off around 35th and the Ryan while wondering what running the bases after hitting a homer would be like.

A player may end up to be Big Star. Most won’t. Some players play for 20 years. Most won’t. As players or fans, we need to appreciate whatever time we have to play the game or just enjoy it from a distance because tomorrow’s game is promised to no one.

Good luck to all 20-Somethings with talent and a dream. And everyone else, too.