Reynaldo López has been more than a pleasant surprise for the Braves in 2024. The 30-year-old reliever hadn't made a start since June of 2022, but has stepped in to make five starts for Atlanta to the tune of a 2-1 record with a 1.50 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning.
Braves color analyst, and former Atlanta pitcher, C. J. Nitkowski joined The Morning Shift to discuss why things have been going so well for Lopez.
"He had a curveball but he rarely threw it," Nitkowski said. "This year he's throwing that curveball a lot more, and the curveball looks good. So now he has a legitimate three-pitch mix that he can throw out there, which has allowed him to go a little bit deeper in games."
Last season Lopez threw 1,205 pitches in 66 innings of work out of the bullpen. Only 11 of those pitches were curveballs. That equates to a mere 0.9 percent. He's already thrown 14 curveballs in 2024, a whopping 10.5 percent of his repertoire.
Of those 14 curveballs, not one hit allowed and a 46.2 percent whiff rate.