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Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez is a 2020 fantasy baseball draft value. His ADP is undervalued, making him a potential draft bargain and late-round sleeper to target.
BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~ 300
CURRENT ADP: ~318 overall
ANALYSIS: Reynaldo Lopez is one of the most polarizing pitchers in fantasy baseball. He's a 26-year-old who can rotate between a complete-game, double-digit strikeout gem and a four-inning, six-run blow-up. Despite his inconsistency, it’s hard to avoid a pitcher who can put up lines like this: 9.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 11 K.
At the end of the 2019 season, Lopez was able to improve on his control, as seen with the 5.8 percent increase in K-BB% during the month of September. The problem in 2019 was his inflated home run rate, as his 1.71 HR/9 was a significant increase from his 1.19 HR/9 in 2018. We can project a rate closer to career norms in 2020.
Lopez enters the 2020 season with an improved team context as the Chicago White Sox have added catcher Yasmani Grandal, one of the best framers in the MLB, to help with their young pitchers. Grandal's guidance could potentially help Lopez unlock some of that upside that we have seen in stretches of dominance that not many pitchers in MLB can match. Coming off consecutive with 180+ innings pitched, Lopez is a high-volume option who can be had past pick 300 in your fantasy drafts and his considerable upside make him worthy of a selection that late.
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