It’s a Braves new season for Reynaldo Lopez…
The Atlanta Braves will open the season with the 30-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher as their fifth starter.
López, who signed a $30 million, three-year deal with the Braves in November, earned the rotation spot by allowing just four earned runs over 16 ⅔ innings in five spring appearances.
He surrendered 10 hits, walked six and struck out 13.
This marks a return to a starting role for Lopez after he was used exclusively as a reliever the past two seasons by the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians. He thrived out of the bullpen, posting a 3.02 ERA with 146 strikeouts in 131⅓ innings over 129 appearances.
But the Braves signed López early in free agency with an eye toward using the hard-throwing right-hander as a starter again. He made a total of 65 starts for the White Sox over the 2018 and ’19 seasons, going 17-22 with a 4.64 ERA.
López joins a rotation that also includes MLB All-Star Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Charlie Morton and another newcomer, Chris Sale.
It also makes sense for the Braves to use López as a starter early in the season, even if he winds up returning to the bullpen. If he began as a reliever, it would have been difficult to stretch out his arm later in the year for a starting role.
Atlanta, which has won six straight NL East titles, opens the season March 28 at Philadelphia.
