Braves Pitcher Joins Elite Company After Monday Start

The Atlanta Braves don’t hit the free agent market often.

So when they do, it seems like a big deal. And it’s safe to say that last season’s marquee free agent signing ended up being one of the biggest so far in the 2024 season.

Reynaldo Lopez signed a three-year, $30 million contract this offseason, but with one twist: being a starter.

It was a surprise when the team announced it: López had experience early in his career, but it hadn’t gone well. In 2018 and 2019 for the Chicago White Sox, he made 65 starts (throwing 372.2 innings) for a 17-25 record and a 4.64 ERA. His 110 earned runs allowed in 2019 led all of baseball.

So, in 2021, he was working in support. And while the team stopped using him as a starter or opener and let him focus exclusively in the bullpen, he became quite good as a reliever. Over his final two seasons in the bullpen (2022 and 2023), he posted a 3.02 ERA and struck out 146 batters in 131.1 innings. Switching to the flamethrower, he used a 98 mph curveball and an 88 mph hard slider that helped him achieve one of the highest strikeout rates in baseball, 29.9 percent.

But Atlanta was adamant that he would have a legitimate chance to win the 5th starter job, and not only did López do it, he excelled:

Through his first seven starts of the season, López has a 1.34 ERA, striking out 40 batters in 40.1 innings.

This is a list of Braves players from the Atlanta era who posted a lower ERA over their first seven starts of a season. Tell me what you notice about these names:

Michael Soroka (2019): 1.01
Greg Maddux (1994): 0.94
Tom Glavine (2002): 0.93

If the answer is “two of the three greatest pitchers of the Atlanta era in franchise history and someone who appeared to be generational before devastating injuries took him away,” then you understand how early season has been impressive for López.

According to the team’s research department, the franchise’s season starts largely predate the glory days of the ’90s: Dana Fillingim (0.29 in 1918), Buzz Capra (1.17 in 1974) and Hall of Famer Phil Niekro (1.27 in 1918). 1965-67)

If it helps, López is also a little surprised. “I was expecting a little bit of a longer adjustment period, but I’m just really grateful for the way things are going,” he told the media last night after his start against the Chicago Cubs .

We talked at length about how to manage López’s workload in his first full season in a rotation since 2019. And while the consensus was that he would inevitably move to the bullpen at some point in season, it looks like Atlanta is doing everything in its power to delay this.

By Baseball reference, López made every start of the season with extra rest, getting five days before two of them, six days before three of them and seven days before one start. Starting on average once a week means Atlanta can theoretically keep him in the rotation for nearly two more months before hitting the 80 inning mark. If we follow the old rule of thumb of limiting year-over-year inning increases to around 50 (and it’s unclear whether Atlanta subscribes to that figure), he’s potentially looking at around eleven more starts before reaching 110 innings. the season. Assuming six rounds initially, López appears to be able to complete most of the schedule before workload becomes a concern.

Now, will this plan survive Atlanta’s grueling summer, in which other players (Sean Murphy And Max Frit) admitted to sometimes having difficulty coping? That remains to be seen.

But the team obviously has a plan to get López not only through the long season in the rotation, but also with maximum efficiency. And that’s a good thing, because he showed us that his max was pretty darn good.