A’s Jacob Lopez is an intriguing arm to monitor in fantasy baseball

Young pitchers such as Paul Skenes and Jacob Misiorowski create excitement by overpowering opposing hitters with their nasty stuff and triple-digit heat. 

Unfortunately, not every pitcher has those kinds of gifts — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth noticing. 

To call Athletics lefty Jacob Lopez a flamethrower is like calling Katy Perry an astronaut. Despite throwing a 90.7 mph four-seamer — the 20th slowest fastball in the majors, according to Statcast — the 6-foot-4 lefty has generated some interest with his recent performance. 

In seven starts (he made four relief appearances), he is 2-3 with a 3.15 ERA, 10.7 strikeouts per nine, .225 opponents’ average and a 1.223 WHIP. In his past four outings, three of which were quality starts, he was 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA (1.99 FIP), a 31.5 percent strikeout rate, 7.6 percent walk rate, .173 opponents’ average and a 14.5 percent swinging-rate.