Reynaldo

López

Statcast had López’s fastball down 3.6 mph from last year in today’s outing, which is comparable to where his velocity was before Statcast went out partway through his spring debut last week. López’s breaking balls aren’t down quite so much, but it’s not looking great, with his curveball spin rate today down about eight percent from last year. López is building up after last year’s shoulder surgery, and it’s still really early. However, he’s probably going to need to get back into the mid-90s to be a quality MLB starter. He averaged 92.0 mph today.

He struck out two. Statcast, which crapped out halfway through his outing, had López’s fastball velocity down four mph from last year in the first inning, but he seemed comfortable on the mound. Hopefully, he’ll build up from here.

López pitched just five innings in 2025 before having shoulder surgery, so it’s nice to see that his velocity is pretty close to his career norms this early into spring training. With Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both undergoing elbow surgery, López now has a clear path to a spot in the starting rotation. Even if he’s not a great bet to remain healthy for the entire season, he’s going late enough in drafts that it’s worth taking a shot on a pitcher who had a 1.99 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 148/42 K/BB ratio in 2024.

This was to be expected, with Spencer Schwellenbach needing elbow surgery and AJ Smith-Shawver also sidelined after elbow surgery. Despite being limited to just one start last season, we’d much rather gamble on López in fantasy drafts, who posted a 1.99 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 148/42 K/BB ratio in 2024. Holmes is also coming off a late-season UCL injury that he did not have surgery for in the offseason, so he remains a huge risk in fantasy leagues.

Suarez will make $13 million next season and $16 million each of the following two years, with none of the money being deferred. That means the Braves have committed $47.5 million in 2026 payroll to four relievers in Suarez, Raisel Iglesias ($16 million), Aaron Bummer ($9.5 million) and Joe Jiménez ($9 million). They’re also considering using Reynaldo López ($14 million) as a reliever, though the Suarez addition definitely would seem to give them more incentive to leave him in the rotation. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal said the Braves intend to keep Iglesias in the closer’s role, meaning Suarez will likely pitch the eighth for a year before perhaps resuming closing in 2027. As a result, Suarez, who led the National League with 40 saves for the Padres last season, probably shouldn’t be looked at as a top-25 RP in fantasy leagues heading into next spring.

It seems like an odd way to put it. López, who missed almost all of 2025 following shoulder surgery, has a 2.11 ERA in 26 starts and one relief appearance for the Braves, so if the team thinks he can stay healthy in the rotation, he obviously deserves to be there. But it’s quite possible the Braves believe they’d get more out of him as a reliever and are trying to soften the blow. For the moment, the Braves have Chris Sale, Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach guaranteed rotation spots if healthy. That would leave two openings for López, Grant Holmes, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder, Osvaldo Bido, Joey Wentz and José Suarez. Of that group, only Waldrep has options remaining.

There was some optimism a couple months ago that López might pitch again this season, but that doesn’t appear very likely, especially with Atlanta falling out of playoff contention. The 31-year-old righty has been out since early April recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.

The positive news for the Braves and fantasy managers is that López could potentially return later this season after the cleanup procedure didn’t reveal any structural damage that needed to be addressed. The -year-old righty will be shut down completely from throwing until he’s re-evaluated in July, so he likely wouldn’t make it back to Atlanta until sometime in August or September, even in a best-case scenario. It’s an encouraging development from a long-term standpoint for fantasy managers in dynasty formats.

The procedure will determine the extent of the damage in the right-hander’s pitching shoulder and will hopefully determine how long he’ll be shelved for. He has already been moved to the 60-day injured list so the earliest that he would be eligible to return, even in a best case scenario, would be the end of May. There’s a strong possibility that he misses the remainder of the year, which means he’s not worth stashing in shallow mixed leagues.

This was nothing more than a procedural move to free up a spot on the team’s 40-man roster for Jason Delay who was acquired from the Pirates on Thursday afternoon. López is set to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, which will help to determine whether or not he’s dealing with any structural damage. The earliest that he’ll be able to return would be late May, but it would be extremely surprising if he was ready to go when he’s first eligible.