FORT MYERS, Fla. — Into the “things aren’t always as they seem, especially in spring training” file, please enter Reynaldo López’s start Friday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins.
The box score would suggest that the Braves’ 31-year-old right-hander was an abject mess — 3⅓ innings, six hits allowed, five runs allowed (three earned), one walk, no strikeouts — and that only high-grade delusion could lead him to say that his appearance went “really well.”
Take this into account, though. It was a start dedicated solely to working on his fastball after not being satisfied with the pitch in his previous start. Out of 57 pitches, he fired four-seam fastballs 49 times. Eventually, perhaps after he opened the game by throwing 17 consecutive fastballs, the Twins appeared to catch on.
There was no need for Minnesota to bang trash cans Friday. Everyone knew what was coming.
“I would imagine that, if they didn’t really realize or notice that I was sort of focusing on the fastballs, they might need to reevaluate their approach into it,” said López through interpreter Franco Garcia. “Obviously, it was fastball-fastball, so I can’t imagine they didn’t recognize it or realize it.”
So, to that end, López’s day went well. The fastball was mostly in the 92-95 mph range, which is about where it was in a spring training start last year close to this time before he averaged 95.5 in the season. It’s a pitch he threw 55% of the time in 2024.
“The fastball felt good,” he said.
Said manager Brian Snitker, “A good spring training (outing) for him.”
It was a delightful March afternoon at the Twins’ complex in Fort Myers, about an hour south of the Braves’ spring training home in North Port. Temperatures hovered in the high 70s with clear skies. A gentle breeze blew. Palm trees overlooked the outfield. Visiting Minnesotans worked on their sunburns.
And a young man from the Dominican Republic slung fastballs without ceasing.
A different challenge awaits López in his second season with the Braves. Acquired last offseason as a free agent, López came to spring training trying to convert from a reliever to a starter. It was something he hadn’t done regularly since 2020, when he didn’t do it well — 6.49 ERA in eight starts in the COVID-shortened season for the Chicago White Sox.
Given the benefit of extra rest to aid his transition, López gave the Braves unmitigated brilliance — 25 starts, 135⅔ innings, 1.99 ERA, 148 strikeouts.
Among pitchers who’ve crafted similar seasons — at least 20 starts, 125 innings, ERA at 2.00 or below, 140 or more strikeouts — there’s nary an impostor in the bunch. According to Stathead, here’s who’s done it beginning with the 2000 season — Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, Jake Arrieta, Blake Snell, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Paul Skenes and López. Of the 10, eight have won a total of 22 Cy Young Awards and Skenes seems destined to join them.
(Speaking of Cy Young, he had six such seasons, although he didn’t have to face the designated hitter.)
And now, at least in one important regard, López wants to do even better. López plans to pitch more innings to absorb more of the load for a staff that has lost two durable starters to free agency (Max Fried and Charlie Morton) and has spots to fill in the bullpen. He has a goal to reach 200 innings, which would be a) a career high; b) a 47% increase on his 2024 workload; c) a total reached by only four major league pitchers last season, all barely.
“I put a lot of work in the offseason just trying to prepare my body for the work that it takes to do something like that,” López said. “I worked extremely hard this offseason. Hopefully, I can stay healthy, and with those things sort of being the foundation there, I think (200 innings) is something that can be achieved.”
To prepare, López started his workout program earlier than he had in the past, focusing on building strength in his legs (or in his “lower half” if you want to talk like a ballplayer) and his lower back, which gave him some discomfort last season.
López is an intriguing cast member in the play. On the one hand, it would be unreasonable to expect him to perform to the standards he achieved in 2024. His career ERA is 3.93.
On the other hand, he’s going into the second year of his second incarnation as a starter with a lot of questions answered and experience gained. A year ago, López was an experiment. Now he’s an All-Star.
“I guess the difference this year, I feel like there’s a little more tranquillity, not so much uncertainty,” López said. “I think we just have the game plan and we’re just moving forward and everything’s just falling in place.”
Interesting statistic to note: López actually performed much better on four days’ rest last season — 1.52 ERA in five starts with a .179 opponent batting average — than he did in his nine starts with five days’ rest — 2.53 ERA and .268 opponent batting average.
Snitker said the team will keep an open line of conversation with López about how he’s feeling once the season starts. If López is needed to start every fifth day, Snitker said that “I don’t think we’ll hesitate” to make it happen.
“I think he feels good going into this year, that he got that first year back starting behind him and I think he’ll be raring to go,” he said.
I told Snitker that one analytics projection had López at 31 starts, 173 innings pitched and a 3.57 ERA.
“I’ll take that, no doubt,” he said with a slight chuckle.
There’s no telling how close López can come to that plateau. But, at the start of March, a player who says he’s feeling tranquil and a manager who thinks he’ll be raring to go is a pretty good place to start.
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