Reynaldo López provides blueprint Atlanta attempts to recreate

The Atlanta Braves think they may have found something.

The groundbreaking book “Moneyball,” later made into a film starring Brad Pitt, was a fascinating look at the Oakland Athletics front office and its manager Billy Beane. The team was known for winning despite a low payroll, largely due to discovering certain market inefficiencies and exploiting them in roster construction. Oakland’s emphasis on on-base percentage in the book, and then later on defense, was imitated in baseball and caused teams to adopt different ways of evaluating talent and approaching talent acquisition. players, both in free agency and trade.

The Braves may have found a new frontier for this: converting relievers into starters.

During an offseason where starting pitchers were receiving dramatically inflated salaries – Sean Manaea received $28 million over two years from the New York Mets and Michael Wacha received $32 million over two years from the Kansas City Royals – Atlanta signed reliever Reynaldo López to a three-year contract worth a total of $30 million. They also hold a club option for 2027 at $8 million (or a $4 million buyout). Shortly after the signing, Atlanta announced that López was transitioning back into a starter, a role he had not held since 2019.

And so far it has been a matter of free will. Earning just $4 million in salary this season, López has a 1.75 ERA after nine starts and 51.1 innings, the lowest mark on the team and just 0.01 behind the major league leader, Seth Lugo and his 1.74, if López had thrown the required 52. innings to qualify in the MLB rankings.

The conversion worked so well that Atlanta attempted it with two other players – Ray Kerr and minor league Grant Holmes.

Kerr made his first career start last week and it didn’t go well (five runs in four innings against Pittsburgh), although, in his defense, he didn’t know he was leaving until he arrived at the stadium Friday. The team has kept him at the major league level and it is believed he will receive another opportunity outside of the rotation; The team’s next scheduled kickoff date is Tuesday, June 4 against Boston at Fenway Park, although they have not announced the starters for this weekend’s series against the Oakland Athletics.

Holmes is more intriguing — a former 2014 Los Angeles Dodgers first-rounder who has yet to debut in the majors, he converted to full-time relief in 2021 and was most recently the most close to Triple-A Gwinnett. But after giving him several multi-inning outings and acquitting himself well, Gwinnett put him in the rotation Tuesday for the opener of their series in Virginia against the Norfolk Tides (affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles).

It turned out to be a good decision.

Holmes went five innings with one run allowed on one hit, walked two and struck out seven. The run and hit came on the very first batter of the game, as baseball’s No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday hit a solo home run, but from that point on, Holmes locked down the best attack in AAA. His 74 pitches (46 strikes) included thirteen whiffs and a well-above-average CSW of 38%, while he allowed only three hard-hit balls (exit velocity of 95 mph or greater) in his five sleeves. He also showed the ability to maintain his velocity, regularly reaching 95 mph with his fastball in the final inning.

While the Braves are looking for a fifth starter – outside of injured AJ Smith-Shawver (oblique), every other pitcher appearing in the fifth role has posted a 4.66 ERA or higher. None from Darius Vines (4.66 ERA and 0-1 record in two starts), Bryce Elder (6.46 ERA and 1-2 record in five starts) or Allan Winans (10.80 ERA and 0-1 record in one start) took the upper hand. “We’re going to continue to do everything we can to mix and match things, and guys will get opportunities.”

Top prospect Spencer Schwellenbach gets first crack at the position tonight, being recalled from Double-A Mississippi for the opportunity. Is Grant Holmes next?