Reynaldo Lopez has won the battle for the fifth starters spot with the Atlanta Braves.

Per Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Braves optioned Bryce Elder and Huascar Ynoa. Reynaldo Lopez is the fifth starter.

We heard at the end of February that Lopez could be the leader in the clubhouse for the job, and this is where we end up with just 10 days until the regular season begins.

The initial reporting back then indicated that Lopez could end up in the bullpen at some point this year, and that likely makes sense given he hasn’t seen a starter’s workload in a few years, but for now, he joins the rotation of one of the best teams in baseball.

The 30-year-old Lopez came up as a starter, serving primarily in that role from his major league debut in 2016 until 2020. He made nine starts in 2021 vs. 11 relief appearances and then made 129 relief appearances vs. one start in 2022-2023.

He’s shown to be an effective reliever over the last two years, pitching to a 2.76 ERA in 2022 and a 3.27 in 2023. He is an eight-year major league veteran with the Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians.

Lopez has a fastball that pushes 100 MPH as a reliever, so it will be interesting to see how he handles the velocity in a starting capacity. He signed a three-year, $30 million deal this offseason.

Other members of the Braves’ rotation include Spencer Strider, Chris Sale, Max Fried and Charlie Morton.

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Former Atlanta Braves rotation member announces his surprising early retirement

A main cog in the rotation for the rebuilding years in Atlanta has announced his retirement from professional baseball.

The Atlanta Braves enter the 2024 season as the six-time defending NL East division winner. They have been winning for so long now, even hardcore fans can vaguely recall on some of the obscure roster members in Atlanta during the 2014-2017 rebuilding years.

Yesterday, a pitcher who logged a lot of innings during those rebuilding years announced his retirement from professional baseball. At only 31 years of age, Matt Wisler told the world of his decision via his personal Instagram account.

Former top prospect Matt Wisler announces his retirement

Entering the 2014 season Wisler was regarded as a top 50 prospect in all of baseball. The Braves acquired Wisler from the Padres in the trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to San Diego. Wisler would debut in the big leagues in the summer of 2015 for the struggling Braves.

His debut was one of the more memorable in recent memory, as he fired eight shutout innings in an impressive win versus the New York Mets. Matt Wisler finished his rookie campaign with his fair share of ups and downs, but he gave Atlanta enough to be hopeful he could make a leap in 2016.

Unfortunately, Wisler went the other direction in his sophomore campaign, pitching to a 5.00 ERA, 4.85 FIP, and mediocre 6.6 K/9. Atlanta never really regained confidence in Wisler from there, and eventually traded him along with Lucas Sims and Preston Tucker to Cincinnati for Adam Duvall at the 2018 trade deadline.

Wisler then transitioned into a full-time reliever role in an attempt to prolong his Major League career. He bounced around from Cincinnati, to San Diego, to Seattle, and to Minnesota across three seasons, never pitching more than 30 innings for any of those teams.

However, in 2021 he found a sprinkle of success in Tampa Bay when they prioritized him throwing his slider way more than he had in previous years. This led to more success for Wisler, but sadly the success was short-lived.

Wisler was released by the Rays in 2022, then failed to reach the majors with Detroit and Toronto during the 2023 season. Across his eight-year career, Wisler had a 25-36 record, 4.59 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 436 Ks, and 1.7 bWAR across his 507 innings of work.