Veteran players often come into spring training with an offseason spent evaluating how they can improve next season. Atlanta Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez went into this past winter with a pretty tough job of being critical on his 2024 performance.
It was a magical year where Lopez earned his first All-Star selection, and pitched to a sub 2.00 ERA and 2.92 FIP across 135 innings. Nitpicking that performance is tough task for anyone, but Reynaldo does enter 2025 with some lofty goals.
However, this spring the results for Reynaldo Lopez doesn't really forecast someone who's ready to dominate again in 2025...but that's exactly why we over-analyze spring training numbers. If you were to look at the box score from Lopez's outing yesterday against the Twins you may begin to worry. Lopez pitched 3.1 innings while surrendering five runs and seven baserunners, but before you freak out there's a very good reason as to why the Twins knocked Lopez around yesterday.
Lopez was clearly focusing on fastball command and Braves fans should not be worried
The reason the Twins teed off on Lopez...they knew the fastball was coming. Clearly focused on perfecting his fastball command in his third start of the spring, Lopez threw 49 fastballs out of his 56 total pitches. This is something plenty of veterans pitchers do in spring starts as they look to enter the season with top-notch control.
Im not about Reynaldo Lopez’s velocity. He was at 95 mph his 3rd to last pitch. He threw fastballs 49 of 56 pitches and 16 times on first pitch of 17 PA. Seems to me he was working on something with the four-seam. Also, it’s March 7, most pitchers are still ramping up.
— Chris Clegg (@ChrisCleggMiLB) March 7, 2025
There was an uproar online about Lopez's fastball velocity being down a couple mph as well, but Reynaldo ticked the velo up in his final inning hitting 95 mph. Last season, Lopez averaged 95.5 mph with his four-seamer via Baseball Savant, and unless he's struggling to hit that mark towards the end of March then fans shouldn't too overly concerned about it.
It's rare you see pitchers at or above their expected velocities in just the third start of spring training. We saw as much with staff ace Chris Sale during his first few starts. However, because Lopez was hit around the yard yesterday the online chatter got a little louder than normal yesterday. Lopez will likely have three or four more spring outings before the regular season begins. If the results are still poor, then fans can be a little more pessimistic. However, it's best we just be patient and allow a veteran like Lopez to navigate spring training before we start getting to up in arms.