López mentally strong ahead of 2020 season

CHICAGO --The mental approach and focus could be equally as important as the physical execution of pitches for Reynaldo López to have a bounce-back season in 2020.

If López’s 40-minute Zoom interview Tuesday was any indication, the White Sox right-hander certainly seems to be in a good place. López joked at times with the media and even brought his almost 2-year-old daughter, Zoé, into the call for some non-baseball related hilarity.

“She's like an earthquake,” said López with a laugh when asked about his daughter through interpreter Billy Russo. “She wants to run, she wants to jump, she wants to do whatever she wants to do. Sometimes she just takes my shoes and puts them in a different place in the house. She's very good. She's very happy.”

This tale is not about López’s blissful family life as much as it’s centered upon the 26-year-old finding a good mindset on the mound. There were moments of 2019 excellence for López, who struck out 14 Tigers in an April 28th home start and then fanned 11 during a one-hitter against the Indians in Cleveland on Sept. 5.

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But his strong 2018 breakout campaign with a 3.91 ERA over 32 starts was followed up by a 5.38 ERA posted in 33 starts last year. López yielded 35 home runs, 203 hits and 65 walks over 184 innings, but felt it was never really a physical issue.

“Sometimes the last couple of years, if I give up a walk or something bad happened, I lost focus,” López said. “Now, I've been working more on that aspect of my game, keeping focus. I'm in a better position now because I've been working hard to control the game in my mind.

“Something that [Dallas] Keuchel told me during our time in Arizona was don't think about the hitter, don't think about who is in the batter's box. Just try to execute, try to keep your focus on every pitch, keep my focus on my catcher and don't pay attention who is in the batter's box. That was good advice and that's something that's going to help me.”

In order to get himself mentally in-line after last season, López approached team psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Fishbein. He also worked at the Mamba Academy during the offseason, leading him into a good feel upon taking the mound during Spring Training in February and March.

That good feel has continued during Summer Camp at Guaranteed Rate Field, and preparation has been detailed for López both on and off the mound. As an example, López checked the ’19 report of all his outings and believes the home runs he yielded were more about something being off right before those pitches in his mind then the actual pitches themselves.

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“I was hesitating or something there that I wasn't completely convinced about that pitch, or a specific situation before that pitch. That was one of the reasons why that happened,” López said. “That is when I thought ‘OK, what is next. I don't have to get stuck in that thought. Let's move forward, let's move on, what can I do? I just check all those reports and all those pitches. OK, how many fastballs I threw, how many breaking balls I threw, where I locate those breaking balls, what happened on those pitches?’ I checked all that. I saw the reports.

“At the end, the conclusion is I have to be confident in myself. I have to have confidence in my pitch and execution of my pitch and all my pitches, and that's it because that's the only thing I can control. Whatever happened, happened after I throw that pitch.”

White Sox manager Rick Renteria likes what he has seen from his potential No. 3 or 4 starter.

“He’s carrying himself very well. He's very calm,” Renteria said. “He continues to show well emotionally, mentally.

“Obviously, his work has looked good. He’s doing fine. He's settling in. I'm really hopeful that we can expect a nice little bounce back for him. We just take it one day at a time, but he's looked very good, and the conversations with him have been solid.”