On the day after it was announced that Michael Kopech would not be participating in the 2020 shortened season, another right-handed pitching prospect softened the blow.
Jimmy Lambert, who like Kopech is coming back from Tommy John surgery, looked fully recovered striking out five in two innings of work in the White Sox intrasquad at Guaranteed Rate Field. Nomar Mazara lifted one of Lambert’s pitches into the Goose Island seats in right field for a home run – after Lambert struck out Eloy Jimenez and Yasmani Grandal – but that didn’t dampen pitching coach Don Cooper’s praise of Lambert, 25.
“Best I’ve seen him up close,” Cooper said. “I’m happy to see it because I know now we’ve got another guy. He’s real. Coming back from an injury, but I know as he maxes out on the command with his God-given stuff he’s going to be another pitcher for us.”
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Lambert has been touching 95 mph in camp and a good four-pitch mix. It’s as though he’s saying the Sox have more on the prospect cupboard where Kopech comes from.
“Outstanding changeup, good fastball, knows how to spin the curveball and slider,” Cooper said. “Did a really nice job in his two innings.”
Cooper said Lambert and right-hander Dane Dunning, another top Sox prospect who is slated to pitch in Sunday’s intrasquad, were both overly amped up in recent live batting practice sessions.
“Their energy got the best of them,” Cooper said. “They really wanted to show, ‘hey look at me I can do this.’ We already kind of know what they can do. Their energy got the best of them and they were thinking more about stuff than locating that stuff. We talked about it. You have to control that energy, bring it to the glove and if you do it will take you to heights you’ve never seen. And unfortunately if you don’t control that energy it can take you to depths you don’t want to go. It happened in a practice setting and so it was a wonderful teaching moment.”
A fifth round draft choice in 2016, Lambert recorded a 2.94 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings in his first six starts at Class AA Birmingham last season before elbow soreness set in. He has surgery in June.
How Lambert and Dunning fit in the Sox plans for 2020 is something to be figured out. Cooper has six starters – Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Dylan Cease and Gio Gonzalez – to choose from already. The season starts in 12 days.
“We’re going to have to make decisions on how we utilize people but we’re not there yet because we’re too busy focusing on what we have to do today,” Cooper said. “Later, we’ll have a lot of discussions about the team, how many and who we’re taking, and some strategy meetings for sure on how we’re going to approach it.”
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July 12, 2020 at 07:58PM
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Right-hander Jimmy Lambert impresses in White Sox intrasquad - Chicago Sun-Times
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