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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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This time a year ago, few would have guessed the Atlanta Braves had identified a starting pitcher capable of making 25 starts and pitching to a 1.99 earned-run average when they signed Reynaldo Lopez to a three-year, $30 million contract.
Lopez, who had not been part of a major league rotation for a full season since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, had been a relief pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, and Cleveland Guardians from 2021-23 before joining the Braves.
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All Lopez did in Atlanta was lead a playoff-bound Atlanta rotation in ERA over 135.2 innings while going 8-5 and averaging more than a strikeout per inning.
Lopez wasn't alone among pitchers who made the transition from a bullpen to a starting rotation after signing as a free agent last winter.
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The Giants signed former St. Louis Cardinals closer Jordan Hicks to a four-year, $44 million deal in January; he went 4-7 with a 4.10 ERA in 29 games (20 starts). Zack Littell wasn't a winter acquisition, but he had been a reliever for the Giants in 2022, and the Red Sox in 2023, before the Tampa Bay Rays claimed him off waivers in May 2023 and gave him a chance to start. Littell spent all of 2024 in the Tampa Bay rotation and went 8-10 with a 3.63 ERA (110 ERA+) in 29 starts.
Does the free agent market hold any reliever-to-starter conversion candidates? According to industry sources who spoke to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, there's at least one.
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Jeff Hoffman spent most of his time in the Colorado Rockies organization as a starter. In 2019, his last full season as a starter, Hoffman went 2-6 with a 6.56 ERA in 15 starts.
The last three seasons (2022-24) in Cincinnati and Philadelphia, Hoffman has worked out of the bullpen almost exclusively.
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Last season with the Phillies, Hoffman posted a 2.17 ERA across 68 appearances, logging 10 saves for the National League East champions. Now a free agent, the 31-year-old might not be pigeonholed as a relief pitcher.
"There is some industry buzz that Hoffman's pitch mix and history as a starting pitcher have some teams thinking he could be a reliever-to-starter free agent signing like Reynaldo Lopez and Jordan Hicks were last winter," McDaniel wrote. "It's still more likely that he is signed as a late-inning reliever given how good he is in the role and the guarantee his performance the past two seasons will demand."
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