This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat publication. To learn the total publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it commonly in your inbox.
ATLANTA — Taking an opportunity on Jarred Kelenic’s upside may pay dividends for a few years to return. However proper now, it seems to be just like the Braves’ high offseason choice was to signal Reynaldo López with the plan to make the most of him as a beginning pitcher.
López thrived in a reduction function over the previous two years. No person would have blinked had the Braves simply put him of their bullpen. However the place would the group be proper now had López not been stretched out as a starter in Spring Coaching? And the place would possibly the group be subsequent season had López not spent at the very least a portion of this yr serving as a starter?
With Spencer Strider seemingly sidelined for the rest of this yr and probably via the primary half of subsequent, Atlanta may gain advantage significantly from López’s availability as a starter. The veteran right-hander’s presence at the moment stabilizes a fractured bullpen.
López hasn’t thrown greater than 66 innings in a season since 2019. He seemingly gained’t be requested to deal with a beginning pitcher’s common workload over a whole season. However by reacquainting his physique to the beginning function, he’ll be even higher ready subsequent yr, when the Braves may very well be trying to account for Strider’s absence and the potential departures of free-agent-to-be Max Fried and 40-year-old Charlie Morton.
Early outcomes point out López may very well be profitable within the rotation. Or at the very least, more practical than he was whereas beforehand serving as a starter.
López posted a 4.64 ERA over the 65 begins he made for the White Sox from 2018-19. His most profitable profession stretch got here when he produced a 3.02 ERA over 129 mixed appearances with the White Sox, Angels and Guardians from 2022-23.
Now that López has allowed only one run via his first two begins (12 innings) of this season, he confidently stated he’s higher ready than he was when he beforehand served as a starter.
“I believe I’m a really totally different pitcher than I used to be three years in the past,” López stated. “Just a few years in the past, I didn’t have the command I’ve on my breaking pitches. With this command, I really feel assured throwing all of my pitches in any depend. These two years I spent within the bullpen had been very useful.”
The pattern dimension is small with simply two begins accomplished up to now. However there are a number of developments to observe.
López has used his four-seam fastball 65.3% of the time this yr. That is just like final yr’s fee (64.3%) and barely increased than ’19 (58.5%) and ’18 (60.7%).
Curveball utilization could be probably the most fascinating factor to keep watch over. López has used his curve 15.3% of the time this yr. This pitch accounted for simply 1% of his pitches final yr, 7.9% in ‘22, 8.4 in ‘19 and 5.8% in ‘18.
The curveball has by no means been a plus-pitch for López prior to now, however the early outcomes point out it is a pitch he ought to at the very least proceed to lean on slightly extra ceaselessly. Opponents have whiffed with 5 of 10 swings towards this breaking pitch to this point. This small pattern dimension doesn’t inform us a lot, but it surely does create purpose to observe to see if the curveball turns into a extra major a part of López’s arsenal.
Given the rash of pitching accidents throughout the league, it could be time to credit score pitchers for proving that much less can nonetheless deliver extra. López’s four-seam fastball averaged 97-98 mph as a reliever the previous two years. It has averaged 95 mph throughout his first two begins.
There’s a chance the velo will enhance because the climate improves. But when it doesn’t, there wouldn’t be something improper with him proving he can stay efficient round 95 mph.
