White Sox Should Give Lopez The Ball In The Ninth Inning

Reynaldo Lopez has had his sight set on the closer’s role for a while now. Due to some unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, he may finally get his opportunity.

Back in November, White Sox pitching coach Ethan Katz discussed Lopez’s goal during a Zoom session with Scott Merkin of MLB.com.

“Ultimately, his goal is to be a closer one day,” Katz said. “That’s where I feel like his mind is, and the conversations I’ve had with him, he likes that environment.”

López showcased all the tools to be a dominant closer in 2022. He throws hard and does not walk, guys. His 4.3 walk rate last season ranked in the top five percent of all MLB pitchers. According to Baseball Savant, his fastball velocity ranks in the 93rd percentile. The 29-year-old right-hander also posted a career-low 2.76 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and held opponents to a .218 batting average in a career-high 61 games.

“He’s a special talent,” new manager Pedro Grifol said of Lopez. “He likes the moment. He likes the stage. He’s a good athlete. Fields his position well. Great feet.”

The key to unlocking this newfound success as a reliever came with confidence.

“It was more mental than anything,” Lopez told MLB.com about his bullpen role. “Be ready every day instead of once every five days. It took me a while to get used to. The first two months were not good, but after that, everything was clicking.”

Lopez is taking the failed starter path that many great relievers have taken. One such example is the White Sox’s current closer, Liam Hendriks. Hendriks was waived and traded multiple times before breakout as one of the most dominant closers in baseball.

Lopez hasn’t had to change uniforms as much as his Austrian counterpart, but his journey has had plenty of bumps along the way. The White Sox López acquired in a package that sent Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals. He immediately became one of the top pitching prospects in the White Sox organization, hoping to develop into a dominant starter. Lopez showed promise in 2018 when he had the lowest ERA amongst White Sox starters with a 3.91 mark.

In 2019 things slowly began to unravel. For whatever reason, he has struggled with consistency. Lopez finished the season with a 5.38 ERA. In 2020 he was jettisoned to the team’s Alternate Training Site to start the season. When he was eventually called up, his ERA imploded to 6.49. The following season, he lost the battle for the fifth starter job to Carlos Rodon, then amassed a 7.62 ERA in Triple-A Charlotte to start the season. It looked like his career in the MLB would be over.
Then in May, López underwent an eye procedure to improve his vision, and everything changed. The surgery repaired both of his and grew his confidence in his command.

With Hendriks on the shelf due to a Non-Hopkins Lymphoimia diagnosis, someone will have to fill the void in the ninth inning. Lopez will have the opportunity to follow in his footsteps for the first few months of the season.

The bullpen roles have been murky to this point, with Pedro Grifol doing little to provide any clarity. Kendall Graveman has some ninth-inning experience, while Aaron Bummer and Joe Kelly logged innings in some critical situations. Power arm Garrett Crochet is set to return to the bullpen sometime in May, so seeing where he slots in will be interesting.

But if you ask Lopez, he is more than ready for the challenge. The adrenaline rush he gets from staring down an opposing hitter in a close game gives him an extra boost.

“I am not scared,” he told MLB.com. “I can throw every pitch in every count. As a starter, it is not the same.”

The main argument against Lopez as the team’s Opening Day closer in the ninth inning is his lack of experience closing out games. A ninth-inning save the situation is a whole different animal.

However, most of the members of the White Sox bullpen lack the necessary ninth-inning experience. Graveman has 16 saves in eight seasons, Bummer has five saves in six seasons, and Kelly has just six in 11 seasons. With that blazing fastball-slider combo, Lopez is as good of an option as any arm that Grifol has at his disposal in the ninth inning until Hendriks returns.