Not all efforts to turn a relief pitcher into a starter go well. In fact, they often tend to go poorly – see the Marlins with A.J. Puk for a prime example. Injuries have also proven to be common when pitchers make the transition.

For the Braves and Giants, however, things could not be playing out better with their respective free agent acquisitions from this past offseason: Reynaldo López and Jordan Hicks.

López Performing at an All-Star Level

Over his first four starts of the 2024 campaign, López was simply brilliant, logging at least six innings each time out while surrendering only two total runs for a ridiculous 0.72 ERA. That workload was surprising, especially right out of the gate, but the 30-year-old righty was pitching highly efficiently; he required an average of just 88 pitches per game to eat up all those innings.