López showing upside, room for improvement

MIAMI -- Though Marlins right-hander Pablo López is in his fifth Major League season, he finds himself in uncharted territory. The calendar only reads Aug. 17, but he already has set career highs in innings (134) and starts (24).

While the recent results haven’t been there for López, seen again in Wednesday’s 10-3 loss to the Padres at loanDepot park, there is still much to build on.

Here are three areas:

1. Improve in first inning
López needed 36 pitches to record three outs, as the Padres sent nine batters to the plate and scored five runs, putting the Marlins in an early hole. With runners at the corners and two outs, he walked Josh Bell before Jake Cronenworth’s grand slam. Following another walk, Ha-Seong Kim knocked an RBI double.

It spiked López’s first-inning ERA to 6.38 (17 ER/24 IP), which trails just Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland (7.04) for the highest mark in the Majors. López called it a rough frame for a starting pitcher, because it sets the tone. At times, something won’t feel right in the pregame bullpen, and he might try to force things on the mound. Instead, it should be time to go to Plan B, C or D.

“I just don't think he was executing as well,” Padres right-hander Mike Clevinger said. “But then he found his groove for a few innings after that and kind of went back to being Pablo López, so I think we were able to capitalize on a few mistakes and missing on some 3-2 counts, and we did a good job capitalizing in that position.”

2. Find consistency
López has allowed one run or fewer in 11 of his 24 starts. He also has surrendered four or more runs (including unearned) in nine others. Wednesday’s series finale was one of the latter.

Since being named National League Pitcher of the Month in April, López has a 4.55 ERA in 20 starts. Manager Don Mattingly hypothesized that López got off track following a comebacker off his right wrist on June 10 in Houston. The club pushed his ensuing start back a few days, and that might’ve gotten him out of rhythm.

The 26-year-old López believes his struggles stem from mechanical tweaks in early July. While those changes helped him feel more comfortable, he hasn’t been doing as good of a job “hiding everything.” López needs to strike a balance to clean up those crooked numbers.

López doesn’t think the answer is trying to recreate four months ago, rather “moving forward from today.”

“He's going to keep growing, he's going to keep getting better,” Mattingly said. “Everything that happens to him out there is somewhat of a learning [curve], he's going to grow from it. Sometimes it's more painful than others, but he's going to keep getting better. Pablo's going to keep evolving. I think it is important that he's able to pitch throughout the season, walk out of here, pitch a full season, and be healthy in general without anything major that shuts him down.

“We may slow him down or cut some innings out or whatever, but I think in his own mind he goes into the offseason, he's kind of figured out his routines -- the routines that kept him up this year, and then you can build.”

3. Stay healthy
Despite his final line, López’s velocity was slightly up from his season averages. This is encouraging news.

Shoulder issues have sidelined López in every season except the COVID-19-impacted one in 2020. Since Spring Training, López has mentioned the work he put in to ensure he was able to pitch the entirety of ‘22.

“Physically, I'm in a really good spot, which is good because it allows me to not worry too much about the physical aspect but will allow me to concentrate and keep my focus on the things that I need to fix,” López said. “It's a long season. I'm as deep as I've ever been, so I'm still learning. I'm going to balance out how can I keep myself healthy, while also trying to work on some things to be consistent? So I think you're learning as I'm going, but obviously at the end of the day, it's about results, and that's why you try to be consistent.

“Pitching through the rest of the season is No. 1, but you always want to finish on a good note. People always say it's not how you start, it's how you finish. I had a really good start to the season, so now's the finish. I still have an opportunity that I can end the season on a happier note, so I think it's just cleaning up some things, making sure that I get through the season healthy, and if I'm able to finish on a happier note, I'm looking forward to that, too.”