Reynaldo López, a Dominican starting pitcher, was activated by the Atlanta Braves from the injured list due to discomfort in his right shoulder.
His return coincides with the Braves’ best chance to secure a postseason berth. The Kansas City Royals, who secured the last AL wild card position Tuesday, will be Lopez’s opponent.
Since 2015, they have missed out on the postseason. The Braves made their sixth straight postseason appearance and finished first in MLB last season.
The Braves now want to build on their success from the previous year and qualify for the postseason for the eighth time in a row. The Braves have optioned right-hander John Brebbia to Triple-A Gwinnett in light of López’s activation.
Braves Make a Big Postseason Push, Activating An All-Star Pitcher
The Strength López Offers Braves
This season, López has been on the IL twice. On July 28th, he was placed on the injured list due to a forearm injury. Then, on September 10th, a 15-day IL for right shoulder inflammation was started. This season, the 30-year-old has an 8-5 record, 137 strikeouts, a 1.15 WHIP, and a 2.
03 ERA. López has made a big comeback and is one of the Braves’ best starters this year. The seasoned pitcher has both starting and relief pitching experience.
He now has more information because of the change in his role from reliever to starter. The Braves value him considerably higher because of his versatility.
His background has equipped him to manage high-stakes scenarios.
López can cut his ERA to around 2.00 if he can keep up the Royals’ offensive output and put zeros on the scoreboard. He is recently got back from the IL, thus his workload will probably be restricted to four or five innings.
Without a doubt, he is capable of giving up zero runs. López pitched a scoreless inning this season in his first All-Star game. He has pitched scoreless innings in the past.
When asked what his secret to success had been earlier in the season, Lopez said that it all came down to his mindset.
Pitching is one thing, but mentality and strategy are quite another. A pitcher’s or player’s lack of confidence has a big impact. We have witnessed pitcher Alek Manoah exhibit this.
His failure to improve mentally hindered his progress and prevented him from winning the Cy Young in 2022.
Main Image Credits: Images by Geoff Burke
