Off-Topic » The future is now for the Chicago White Sox.

Right-hander Michael Kopech Wei-Yin Chen Jersey , a hard-throwing 22-year-old who is widely regarded as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, will make his big league debut Tuesday night when the White Sox host the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field. Kopech will be promoted before the game from Triple-A Charlotte, where he has been dominant in recent weeks.His new teammates cannot wait to welcome him aboard.Article continues below ...“Really good, really good,” White Sox right-hander Reynaldo Lopez said. “We’re going to have one of the best prospects in the game with us. He’s one of the best, and everybody thinks he’s supposed to be a superstar, and we’re all excited.”The Boston Red Sox selected Kopech with the No. 33 overall pick in the 2013 draft out of Mount Pleasant (Texas) High School. He developed quickly and became a main piece in the trade that sent All-Star left-hander Chris Sale from Chicago to Boston.This season, Kopech has posted 170 strikeouts in 126 1/3 innings. He is 7-7 with a 3.70 ERA in 24 starts, but his past seven starts have been particularly dominant as he has an incredible 59-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio.White Sox catcher Kevan Smith is familiar with Kopech from his time in the minors.“(He is) electric, I guess you could say,” Smith said. “Heavy fastball, life toward the end. It’s heavy. That’s something he has. The last I caught him, we were playing with his changeup a little bit, trying to get his changeup numbers up. …“He’s been throwing the ball great. I’ve been keeping up with what he’s doing. No surprise he’s here.”Chicago (47-77) could use the lift as a disappointing season approaches its final month. Kopech projects as a mainstay in the starting rotation for years to come alongside fellow young arms Carlos Rodon Jeff Locke Jersey , Lopez, Lucas Giolito and others on the way.Meanwhile, Minnesota (59-65) will try to take advantage of the rookie’s first day in the majors.Twins right-hander Jose Berrios — a top young arm in his own right — will make his 26th start of the season. The 24-year-old Puerto Rican is 11-8 with a 3.75 ERA with 157 strikeouts in 153 2/3 innings. He is looking to go deep into the game after failing to make it five innings in each of his past two starts.“We’ll do a little due diligence,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told the Minneapolis Star Tribune after Berrios’ last outing. “We all know how hard he works and how he crushes it between starts. … It could be just a matter of, he’s not feeling quite right — not physically, but whether his arm is trailing. Some mechanical things can get out of whack over the course of the season.”Berrios has shined against the White Sox throughout his career. In seven starts, he is 6-1 with a 2.28 ERA. He has walked 10 batters while striking out 54 in 47 1/3 innings.White Sox manager Rick Renteria could return to the dugout one day after he was hospitalized for feeling light-headed before Monday’s game in Minnesota. Renteria was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for precautionary reasons. FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Don’t call Marwin Gonzalez a utilityman.At least not around the Minnesota Twins.“That’s something I’ve heard used before, all the time,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said on Monday after welcoming Gonzalez to the team’s spring training ballpark. “We consider Marwin an everyday player. He’s just a multi-positional everyday player.”A veteran of seven seasons, all with the Astros, Gonzalez has played every position except pitcher and catcher — and played them well. In Houston’s 2017 World Series championship season, his best year, he committed eight errors in 134 games while batting .303 with 23 homers and 90 RBIs. He finished in the top 20 of the AL MVP voting.Despite a dropoff last year (.247 Cameron Maybin Jersey , 16 HR, 68 RBIs), the Twins will pay Gonzalez $21 million for the next two years even though they don’t really have a spot for him.One spot wouldn’t be enough, anyway.“It’s kind of boring for me to be in the same spot every day,” he said. “I used to be that way, years ago I wanted to be good at one position and be able to play there and establish myself for my entire career. With time, I fall in love with what I do and then I feel comfortable everywhere.”The Twins just gave shortstop Jorge Polanco a new deal and added Jonathan Schoop at second base and C.J. Cron at first. Third baseman Miguel Sano, an All-Star in 2017, is seen as a potential franchise cornerstone if he can stay healthy.The outfield is also crowded, with Eddie Rosario in left and Max Kepler in right; five-time All-Star Nelson Cruz, Minnesota’s highest-profile offseason addition, is the designated hitter.The Twins already had Ehire Adrianza as a backup infielder.Gonzalez expressed no preference for any one position — or even how he might choose to be bounced around — saying it was up to the manager to decide. Baldelli said they would figure that out over the next month.But it’s something he’s excited to think about.“It means everything. Because it doesn’t mean just one particular thing or two things. It just gives you so many different options,” Baldelli said.“What he does is incredibly difficult and challenging for most. But also not everyone embraces that role, either. To do what he does Lewis Brinson Jersey , it takes a very special player.”Gonzalez, who turns 30 next month, will receive $12 million this year and $9 million in 2020. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated outfielder Zack Granite for assignment.The deal was agreed to in principle last week but not finalized until Gonzalez passed a physical. He said he has been working out in Houston before moving to Miami two weeks ago, doing all baseball activities except facing pitchers, to avoid injury.Dozens of free agents remain unsigned, including market leader Bryce Harper, who is expected to get a deal topping the $300 million, 10-year contract signed by shortstop Manny Machado only last week.Waiting until spring training was well underway before signing was “kind of frustrating,” Gonzalez said.“Especially the last week, going to social media and seeing everybody in a baseball uniform,” he said. “And you are just working out by yourself and getting ready for spring training. But I think that the wait was worth it. I couldn’t be in a better spot than down here.”__