Chicago White Sox Scouting Report on RHP Reynaldo Lopez
The Chicago White Sox acquired Reynaldo Lopez in their offseason trade of outfielder Adam Eaton to the Nationals. What did they get in the small-ish righty?
Player Profile
The Chicago White Sox acquired Lopez this offseason as part of a deal that sent away their leadoff hitter and starting outfielder.
The Washington Nationals originally signed Reynaldo Starling (Kely) Lopez out of the Dominican Republic in 2012 as an unheralded 18-year-old. He was project-able, but he only threw high-80s at the time with a diminutive frame, so his $17,000 bonus was fitting.
His velocity immediately began to tick up with professional coaching, making five appearances in the Dominican Summer League after signing, throwing 10 2/3 innings with a 3.38 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 10.87 percent walk rate and a 19.57 percent strikeout rate.
Lopez experienced some mysterious bone weakness in 2013 that limited his time between Auburn in the New York-Penn League and Hagerstown in the South Atlantic League to a combined 5 1/3 innings.
He returned to action fully healthy in 2014, and hitters simply had no chance. He pitched once again for the New York-Penn League and low-A South Atlantic League on the season.
Combined between the two levels, he made 16 starts, throwing 83 1/3 innints, posting an incredible 1.08 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 8.33 percent walk rate and 22.44 percent strikeout rate.
His elite performance got the notice of national prospect rankings as well, as he was rated the #49 prospect in the game by Baseball America and #72 by Baseball Prospectus.
Lopez spent the entirety of his 2015 season at high-A Potomac in the Carolina League. He made 19 starts, throwing 99 innings with a 4.09 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 6.93 percent walk rate and 23.27 percent strikeout rate.
He fell in prospect rankings with his average season, though all of his peripheral numbers had ticked up some, as he was ranked #92 by BA and #75 by BP.
Lopez opened 2016 with AA Harrisburg in the Eastern League, and he moved up to AAA Syracuse in the International League at midseason with an impressive first half performance. He also received a number of call ups for spot starts before coming up to Washington for good in September.
Combined in the minor leagues, he made 19 starts, throwing 109 1/3 innings with a 3.21 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 7.64 percent walk rate and 27.51 percent strikeout rate.
In the majors, he made 11 appearances, six of them starts, throwing 44 innings with a 4.91 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 10.95 percent walk rate and 20.9 percent strikeout rate.
During the winter meetings, Lopez was traded by the Nationals along with Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Adam Eaton.
Lopez’s excellent performance in the upper levels led to him jumping up the rankings, as he ranked #31 overall by Baseball America, #46 by MLB Pipeline and #30 by Baseball Prospectus.
I liked Lopez more than any of those, listing Lopez as my #10 overall prospect in my top 125 prospects on Call to the Pen in January.
Next: Lopez's scouting report