Michael Kopech pitched at the 2013 Under Armour All-American Baseball game at Wrigley Field in August. Photo by Reid Compton-USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Wildcats baseball team landed a commitment from one of the nation’s top pitchers Monday.
Right-hander Michael Kopech, a senior from Mount Pleasant (Texas) High School said he will sign with coach Andy Lopez’s team, according to various reports and his Twitter account.
Kopech went 6-4 with a 1.74 ERA as a junior last season, allowing 39 hits, striking out 105 and walking 24 in 60 1/3 innings, according to perfectgame.org.
The tricky part for Arizona will be to fight off professional baseball. As a hard-throwing, big-framed righty — he hit 94 mph with a lot of life on his fastball this summer — he could very well be an early-round 2014 draft pick.
Here is a summer story on Kopech from perfectgame.org, and a feature from Baseball America in August.