After missing 2025 with shoulder injury, Reynaldo López makes spring debut

López will be one of the team’s five primary starters if all goes well over the next month leading to the regular season. The Braves are hopeful he returns to his 2024 form when he was stretched out to be a starter and went 8-5 with a 1.99 ERA over 25 starts and 26 appearances. López had a WHIP of 1.106 and held the opposition to a .220 batting average, making the Braves look smart in their decision to turn López back into a starter after four consecutive seasons as a reliever in the American League.

The 2025 season, however, was a lost cause for Lopez after he allowed nine hits in three runs over five innings in a start in San Diego in March. His right shoulder was inflamed afterward, and in early April he underwent arthroscopic shoulder.

López didn’t pitch again in 2025, making Tuesday’s outing an important demarcation along his road to recovery.

“Lopey’s right where he needs to be,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said before Tuesday’s game. “It’s tough, you miss pretty much the whole year, that’s not easy coming back from that. But so far, he looks, like I said, right where he needs to be. He’s in a good place. So hopefully that just continues.”

López was throwing at least 92 mph Tuesday. He said his slider and curveball performed well, and he was able to hit the corners of the plate from time to time.

López added he wants to be around the 93-94 mph range with his fastball by the end of camp as long as there is no pain. Last year, he said, he left spring training touching 95 mph, but wasn’t comfortable doing so.

“It’s been a while since he’s pitched, so knowing him, he’s probably taking it easy these first few weeks — especially today since it’s cold,” fellow starter Grant Holmes, who also threw two scoreless innings Tuesday, said. “If I was in his shoes I’d take it easy, not worry about the velocity and more just the workload and getting prepared for the season because we need him.”

The Braves signed López to a three-year, $30 million deal in November 2023. Keeping him in the rotation should bolster the Dominican’s confidence, and since the club did not sign a free agent starter to join the front of the rotation, López will likely be penciled in to toe the rubber for the third or fourth game of the regular season.

And for Braves brass this offseason, there was no question he would get the opportunity to go long into games instead of enter them in relief.

“López was an All-Star with a sub-2 ERA (in 2024),” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said this month. “It’s tough to say, ‘You don’t even have a chance to be in the rotation, we’re sticking you in the bullpen.’”

Added López: “Last year was a tough year because of the surgery. Wasn’t like a bad year or like a 5.00 ERA, it was just the surgery. (Anthopoulos) came and told me, ‘Hey you’re gonna be a starter.’ Really a plus for me.”