DUNEDIN, Fla. — Reynaldo López continued making his case to be Atlanta’s fifth starter after permitting simply two hits over three scoreless innings within the Braves’ 6-2 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday at TD Ballpark.
The 30-year-old right-hander, coming off a begin Monday towards Baltimore wherein he allowed one earned run over two innings, struck out three and walked one throughout a crisp 33-pitch (22 strikes) outing.
“Fastball, slider, curve, changeup, all wanting good right now,” stated López.
López and Bryce Elder are thought of the fifth-starter frontrunners. However the function may very well be crammed by quite a lot of pitchers, together with AJ Smith-Shawver and Darius Vines, in the course of the common season. The Braves used 16 beginning pitchers final season.
Elder has allowed 5 runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings in his two spring begins.
López’s fastball was constantly between 95 and 97 mph, and he induced a pair of double performs. One got here after second baseman Ozzie Albies caught Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s pop-up in shallow middle discipline along with his again going through the infield.
“This man’s acquired huge stuff,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “It is simply consistency, strikes. Simply stuff like that. So we’ll simply see what it appears like.”
López discovered success as a reliever in 2023, however questions stay about how lengthy he can stay a starter. He hasn’t thrown greater than 66 innings in any of the previous 4 seasons.
“As a reliever you must concentrate on each pitch, each hitter,” López stated. “So, I believe to me, I discovered rather a lot as a reliever.”
López had a 4.64 ERA over the 65 begins with the Chicago White Sox from 2018-19.
Belated birthday giftOne day after his twenty second birthday, 2023 first-round Draft decide Hurston Waldrep struck out two and walked over two hitless innings in his first huge league Spring Coaching recreation.
The fitting-hander reached 98 mph along with his fastball and threw 19 of 34 pitches for strikes.
“It is fairly cool going through a giant league lineup and being round all of it,” Waldrep stated. “Made some good pitches, wanted some pitches, however actually simply being there having fun with the second, having fun with the ambiance.”
The Georgia native pitched for all 4 of the Braves’ Minor League associates final 12 months, going 0-1 with a 1.53 ERA in eight begins. He struck out 41 and walked 16 in 29 1/3 innings.
“Child has acquired an electrical arm, man,” Snitker stated. “He simply wants work and innings and expertise. All the opposite stuff is there.”
Waldrep’s grandparents and some mates made it to the sport.
“It is actually cool to have them right here,” Waldrep stated. “My mother and my dad are watching. They could not make it right now, however I do know they’re watching and cheering from residence.”
Braves bits• Left-hander Chris Sale is scheduled to make his second begin on Sunday towards Philadelphia at CoolToday Park. Sale, restricted to 151 innings over 31 begins the earlier 4 seasons attributable to accidents, labored two good innings with 4 strikeouts Tuesday towards the Pirates.
• Ken Giles had his second consecutive sturdy aid inning, putting out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and inducing a double-play grounder from Bo Bichette. The non-roster righty fanned all three batters he confronted Wednesday towards Philadelphia.
“I imply, the slider is actual once more,” Snitker stated. “I favored his stuff. He isn’t throwing 100 anymore, however that slider is actual.”
• Catcher Sean Murphy was scratched attributable to a abdomen bug and was changed by Travis d’Arnaud. Snitker missed video games Tuesday and Wednesday with a abdomen bug.
• Jordan Luplow hit a Statcast-projected 411-foot, 104.5 mph two-run homer, within the first inning off Chris Bassitt. He additionally made a nifty tumbling catch on Danny Jansen’s liner in left discipline.
