The North Port Report: Reynaldo López Is Working on His Secondaries

Here's everything you need to know from Braves Spring Training in North Port, FL from Tuesday

Welcome to The North Port Report, your nightly notebook from Braves spring training. Each evening, we’ll run through the biggest developments from camp: roster battles, injury updates, standout performances, and the small details that matter more than they seem in mid-March. The games may not count yet, but the information does.

Here’s what stood out today

Reynaldo López got the start on the road in Ft. Myers, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out six in his 3.2 innings, being pulled with only two outs in the 4th inning due to being at 73 pitches. I’m not worried about the hits - other than a hard-hit triple and an 87 mph single, both off the bat of Trevor Story, everything else was below 75 mph. A classic “death by BABIP” situation there.

When we last saw Reynaldo back in 2024, he was throwing his four-seam fastball over 50% of the time and ramping up the velocity to the high-90s to get out of jams. When needed, he’d go to his slider as a secondary ptch (33% usage) and then supplement as needed with a curveball (12.8%) and his changeup (2.1%). Today was a bit different - while his fastball was still the most-used pitch, coming in at 41%, he threw his curveball at 32% and his changeup at 15% usage. Some of that may have been to Boston’s prevalence of lefties in the lineup, but it also felt, while watching, that he was trying to force himself to use his tertiary pitches in situations he would have gone to either his slider or grabbed some extra velo for his heater.

He finished with five whiffs on the curveball and changeup combined, totaling nine in the context with a 33% CSW. While I would have liked to see a bit more velo just two weeks from his first start of the season - he averaged 92.6 and didn’t touch 95 today - I’m hoping he’s focusing more on sequencing and comfort with those secondaries than going max effort right now.

We also saw the Braves debuts of lefties Kyle Nelson (1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB/0Ks) and Jack Dashwood (1 perfect inning, two fly outs and a lineout), with Nelson throwing nothing but sinkers and four-seamers while Dashwood flashed a four-pitch mix, needing only eleven pitches to retire the side.

On the offensive side, several Braves had extra base hits, led by Brett Wisely (double and two total hits on the day). The clutch factor just wasn’t there, though, with Atlanta finishing just 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position and scoring just three runs on their nine hits and five walks. Six of the team’s twelve runners left on base were in scoring position when the inning ended.

Quick Hits

• Strider’s simulated game in North Port against Red Sox prospects went well, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The righty allowed only one run, coming after a leadoff walk was allowed to score thanks to a misplay in the outfield. Once again, Strider sat 93-95, touching 96 with his fastball. We discussed Strider’s ability to be successful at those velocities on Tuesday’s episode of the podcast.

• Ronald Acuña Jr’s Team Venezuela takes on Team USA tonight at 8 PM ET for the WBC title. Acuña is 6-23 in the tournament with two homers, a double, four RBI, ten runs scored, and six walks to six strikeouts. He’s also stolen two bags and looks rather quick on the basepaths, having hit 29.7 ft/sec on last night’s infield single.

• Atlanta is sending veteran lefty Martín Pérez to the mound at home against Philly tomorrow afternoon. Atlanta will then be off on Thursday before hosting Paul Skenes and the Pirates on Friday evening.

Roster Battle Tracker

Stock UP

José Azocar finished hitless today, but it wasn’t for lack of trying - he had three batted balls all over 100 mph in this one, with two of them coming off of top Red Sox prospect Payton Tolle. He’s quietly gone .314/.351/.429 this spring, with three extra base hits. Combine that with his ability to cover all three defensive positions and he could be in line for a bench spot if the Braves lose some outfielders this season.

Stock DOWN

This was my first time seeing Kyle Nelson since the Braves signed him in late February. He threw 12 sliders and four fastballs (89.9 mph), inducing six swings and getting no whiffs. The movement of the four-seamer appears to be pretty good, with 17 inches of IVB and seven inches of horizontal break, but only one was even in the zone. I see why they signed him, but I’m merely whelmed by his first start.

Observation of the Day

It’s starting to feel like Atlanta’s coaching staff has passed down an edict/decree to focus on secondaries while preserving effort. I don’t know if it’s actually an organizational decree or anything, but just about every established Braves starter is throwing well enough below their capacity where it’s either intentional or every single player is still feeling the impact of last year’s injuries.

The hope is it’s the first reason. The fear is that it’s not.

Tomorrow’s watch list

Can Martín Pérez get past José Suarez for the final bench spot? Showing that the changeup can get more whiffs and keeping batters off the secondaries would definitely help him make the case.