Yankees Scouted Reynaldo Lopez’s MLB Debut with Nats

New York Yankees scouts were in attendance for Washington Nationals starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez‘s MLB debut on Tuesday night, perhaps in preparation for an Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller trade.

22-year-old right hander Reynaldo Lopez made his first career big league start Tuesday in Washington’s 8-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lopez’s first taste of the majors was a mixed bag.

One the one hand, he struck out an impressive nine batters in just 4.2 innings of work. On the other, he was tagged for 10 hits and six earned runs in that time, ultimately putting the Nationals in a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

George King of The New York Post cites several sources who believe that Washington is using Lopez’s promotion to showcase the pitcher for a possible trade before the August 1st trade deadline. 

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This assertion is supported by the fact that Yankees’ vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring, one of the front office’s most influential decision makers, was in attendance at Nationals Park Tuesday.

It’s possible that Naehring was scouting other players that night as well, but coupled with the recent report that the Yankees were scouting Washington’s Triple-A affiliate (prior to Lopez’s promotion to the big leagues), and fans should be able to put two and two together.

Lopez is an electric arm with front of the rotation potential. He’s made Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list the last two seasons. He ranked 49th prior to 2015 and 92nd this winter. Baseball Prospectus also considered him one of the top 100 prospects in the game both years (#72 and #75).

MLB Pipeline currently ranks Reynaldo Lopez fifth in the Nationals system and give him an ETA of 2017. Here’s what they have to say about his stuff:

His fastball sits in the mid-90s with excellent life and can scrape triple digits, and he did a better job holding his velocity last season. Lopez’s power curveball has above-average potential and complements his explosive fastball. The Nats are encouraged with the development of his changeup in the past year.

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Lopez is exactly the kind of controllable impact starting pitcher Yankees GM Brian Cashman has been targeting for the past year. He makes perfect sense as the centerpiece of an Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller deal, although Washington would have to kick in some nice complementary pieces for Miller presumably.