Washington Nationals: Grading Reynaldo Lopez’s 2016 Season
Today’s Washington Nationals player grades take a look at how Reynaldo Lopez did in his first season
During the season, two of the Washington Nationals top pitching prospects made their big league debuts. Fellow co-editor Ron Juckett has already looked at Lucas Giolito’s season. Today, we take a look at how Reynaldo Lopez did in 2016 for the Nats.
Lopez spent the first three months of the season at double-A Harrisburg where he went 3-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 14 starts. During those 14 outings, Lopez had four double-digit strikeout games and he struck out 100 total batters. His best strikeout performance was on June 19 against Reading when he struck out 13 over seven innings.
On July 19, Lopez made his MLB debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nats Park. He gave up a home run to Chase Utley on the third pitch of his career and gave up six runs on ten hits over 4.2 innings. While he did lose that game, Lopez did strike out nine Dodgers and made history in the process:
Reynaldo Lopez is the first pitcher in the last 100 years to strike out 9 batters in an MLB debut which lasted fewer than 5 innings
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 20, 2016
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In the month of July, Lopez made two starts, but struggled with his command (five walks against the Giants on July 30). He would go down to triple-A Syracuse. Lopez did make one start at Syracuse before his MLB debut. In his five starts with the Chiefs, he was 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA and had one complete game shutout (July 24 against Rochester).
Nearly one month after his MLB debut, Lopez picked up his first big league win at Nats Park against the Braves (August 13). In the following start, he struck out 11 in a start against Atlanta at Turner Field in another win. But, he followed up those two Braves win with a bad outing against the Orioles (six runs allowed in 2.2 innings).
Once September came around, Lopez got one start against the Mets before moving to the bullpen. But, when the right-hander went to the bullpen, he had good results. He picked up three wins and gave up four runs in those outings. On September 24, he shutout the Pirates over 5.1 innings of relief to help the Washington Nationals clinch the NL East title.
Due to his strong pitching in September, Lopez earned a spot on the postseason roster. His lone appearance in the NLDS came in Game 4 against the Dodgers in relief of Joe Ross. He went two innings, gave up one run on two hits, struck out three, and walked one.
When he came up to the big leagues, Lopez showed he can light up the radar gun with his fastball, which can reach 100 miles per hour. This season, the average velocity on his heater was 95.8 miles per hour (Fangraphs). He also had a dominant curveball to go with a changeup.
Next: Plan To Make World Series In 2017
C. . RHP. Washington Nationals. REYNALDO LOPEZ
This season, Lopez got to make his Major League debut, pitch in the Futures Game, and was named the Washington Nationals minor league pitcher of the year by MLB Pipeline. It remains to be seen what Lopez’s role will be with the Nats in 2017. However, if he can consistently locate his fastball, he has the chance to have a very good career in the big leagues.