Rising talents like Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski capture attention by dominating hitters with their impressive skills and blazing fastballs.
Unfortunately, not every pitcher has those kinds of gifts — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth noticing.
Describing Athletics’ left-hander Jacob Lopez as a flamethrower is akin to calling Katy Perry a space explorer. Despite boasting a 90.7 mph fastball — ranking as the 20th slowest in the majors according to Statcast — the towering 6-foot-4 pitcher has started to turn heads due to his recent performances.
Across his seven starts (complemented by four relief appearances), he holds a record of 2-3, accompanied by a 3.15 ERA, 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings, a .225 opponent batting average, and a 1.223 WHIP. Over his last four games, three of which were quality starts, he went 2-0, achieving an impressive 0.39 ERA (1.99 FIP), with a 31.5 percent strikeout rate, 7.6 percent walk rate, .173 opponent batting average, and a 14.5 percent swing-and-miss rate.
