This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA – Within a few months, we’ve gone from “Should Reynaldo López be a starting pitcher?” to “Should Reynaldo López be the National League’s starter in this year’s All-Star Game?”
You can argue that the Phillies’ Ranger Suárez or López’s Braves teammate Chris Sale are more deserving of this honor. Suárez has constructed his own sub-2.00 ERA (1.75) while throwing 18 more innings than López. Strikeout and walk rates help Sale and the Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow to have better WAR and expected stats than López.
But López has a strong resume courtesy of the MLB-best 1.57 ERA he has produced through his first 13 starts. He is the first Braves pitcher to have a sub-1.60 ERA through 13 starts since Tom Glavine, who produced a 1.57 ERA through this same span in 2002.
