The Atlanta Braves took on the Twins in an evening spring training game today with a lineup full of players fighting for final roster spots while some of their stars battle it out in the WBC. Reynaldo López was on the mound looking to continue his success and hopefully stretch out a little bit.
Reynaldo López has looked solid so far this spring. Over 5.0 innings and two appearances, he had yet to give up a run in the spring. He had never gone over 3.0 innings though, so it was a question mark of when he was able to add some more length to his starts since he is coming off a major injury.
Well, it was mostly good news this evening on the Reynaldo López front. He was able to stretch it out for 4.0 innings in his outing this evening. He did finally give up his first run, raising his spring ERA to 1.00. He did struggle a bit outside of runs giving up four hits, and two walks, but struck out three. Another good sign is that all four of his hits given up were singles. It should also be noted that his first walk was when Josh Bell won an ABS challenge.
Reynaldo López himself did claim that he struggled to command his fastball. However, if this was a rough outing in his eyes, he likely was just trying to prove to himself that he can be better. We will take this type of outing gladly.
Martín Pérez came in to get some work as well and looked solid by his standards for his first 2.0 innings. It makes sense that he would give it his all since there is a real chance that he may win a spot in the rotation with the Braves possibly running a 6-man rotation to start the year. He did appear to struggle in his third inning of work though, loading the bases. He was close to giving up a run, but was aided by an outfield assist on a play at home. All-in-all in his third inning of work he gave up a single, a double to old friend Orlando Arcia, a HBP, and a walk but came out it without surrendering a run. The odds of him getting out of that inning with no runs in the future is slim. His full outing was 3.0 innings surrendering zero runs on two hits, one HBP, and one walk. His first two innings were great, but his third was not.
Hayden Harris has only pitched 3.0 innings thus far this spring but got the ball tonight for the eighth inning. He did not start strong, giving up a double to the first hitter he faced. However, he seemed to calm down at least a little bit by following that up with a strikeout and a grounder to SS. He then gave up a walk though, putting runners on the corners with two outs. He was able to finish the job with a strikeout on a 91.7 MPH fastball. In case anyone is wondering, his average fastball last season was 91.9 MPH, so we are not seeing a velocity drop.
The Braves’ offense got the job done, but it was led by a lineup that only had few guys that will likely make the roster. Kyle Farmer got the start at 3B and continued his hot spring getting another hit. He is an interesting player to watch because he has been a below replacement level player the last two seasons, but has easily been one of the better players this spring with the bat. José Azocar has also made a strong case this spring as well and continued tonight by picking up a single and double to raise his spring OPS to .921.
Another player this spring that we should keep an eye on is Jonah Heim since he likely will be the backup catcher while Sean Murphy recovers. Heim has struggled this spring, but did have two hits tonight raising his average to .188 and OPS to .472.
The Braves’ offense was able to muster up four runs from their “starting” lineup before the subs came in, and that was enough to win.
The Braves will be back at North Port, Fl. tomorrow and will face the Baltimore at 1:05 ET. The Braves have not announced yet who will be on the mound, but expect to see more regulars in the lineup.
