Pablo Lopez, Trevor Richards Both Make Marlins Rotation
6 years agoMiami Marlins starter Pablo Lopez has been tabbed to open the season in the rotation, along with Trevor Richards. Both pitchers had impressive springs and will join Jose Urena, Caleb Smith and surprise opener Sandy Alcantara to face a formidable NL East division. Lopez immediately turned heads this spring with a noticeable uptick in his fastball velocity and logged the best spring outing by any starter anywhere. He allowed only two earned runs (one on a home run) while striking out 16 batters over 20 innings and walking only one. His health will be something to monitor as he's a Tommy John veteran and was shut down last August with a right shoulder strain. Trevor Richards is also a name that is being regularly cited as a fantasy sleeper. He's punched out 20 batters in 19 1/3 innings, but has given up three home runs and walked four. Armed with a wipeout changeup, he is also getting his ground ball rate back to what it was in the minors (49% in AA in 2017!) With a pitchers park to call home in Miami, Lopez and Richards make sneaky sleepers for the back-end of fantasy rotations. Just beware that wins will be hard to come by because the Marlins lineup isn't showing this kind of upside...yet.
Source: Wells Dusenberry - Twitter
Source: Wells Dusenberry - Twitter