The Chicago White Sox have a lot of pitchers that should be considered to be above average. One of them that is nice to see pitch well is Reynaldo Lopez. He has had some ups and downs early in his career but is now clearly someone that has found his role with the team.
Lopez can make spot starts when needed no problem but his new role of being a super weapon in the bullpen has been really cool to see him take on. He can be a long reliever, a setup man, or a closer depending on what the team needs.
In 2022, he mostly spent his time in the bullpen as expected. He had a WAR of 1.5 which is really good for someone who appeared in 65.1 innings this season. He only made one start so the rest of his innings came out of the pen.
He had a 2.76 ERA with a 0.949 to go with 63 strikeouts in those 65.1 innings. It was a really nice year for him as he tries to carve out a full-time bullpen role with the team in the long term. He is in a really good spot with the team right now. Playing to his potential will help this team big time.
Final Grade: A
The Chicago White Sox have gotten good pitching from Reynaldo Lopez.
Reynaldo Lopez deserves an A for his efforts in 2022. He pitched very well when he was called upon and it didn't matter what the situation was. Few people were as bright on this team as he was. Now, we have to wonder what "taking that next step" would look like for him.
Coming into 2023, his role is going to depend on what the team does with the roster. If they move on from Liam Hendriks, he very well could become the new closer in the organization.
If they don't, he will be a part of the high-leverage portion of the bullpen with guys like Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer, and potentially even Garrett Crochet. Either way, he is going to be someone that helps the team win in one way or another. He should be proud of his 2022 season because it is setting him up nicely for the future.