Winter Ball Puts Spring In Jorge Lopez’s Step

MILWAUKEE—Jorge Lopez knows how to turn the page on a difficult season.

Things didn’t go as expected for the 23-year-old righthander in 2016 at Triple-A Colorado Springs, a notoriously tough place for pitchers. Lopez got off to a bad start and never recovered. He went 1-7, 6.81 in 17 games and recorded rates of 7.5 strikeouts and 6.2 walks per nine innings.

Things got so bad that the Brewers in mid-July sent Lopez to their training facility in Maryvale, Ariz., to regroup. They then demoted him to Double-A Biloxi, where he was the Southern League pitcher of the year in 2015, and he got headed in the right direction by posting a 3.97 ERA in eight starts.

Lopez then reported voluntarily to instructional league to continue working on his recovery. The real success came afterward when he began pitching for Mayaguez in the Puerto Rican League. In nine starts, he went 1-1, 1.56 and ranked second in the ERA race.

Lopez attended high school in Puerto Rico before the Brewers made him a second-round pick in 2011. In 34.2 innings this winter, he allowed just 17 hits and 13 walks while striking out 32. It was the kind of showing both Lopez and the Brewers sought before he reported to spring training.

“Jorge really pitched well in winter ball,” farm director Tom Flanagan said. “I think it helped that he came to instructional camp and worked with our coaches there. He didn’t have to come, but to his credit he did and got some good work in there, then carried it over to winter ball.”

As for what went wrong for Lopez last year, Flanagan said, “He just never got on track coming out of spring training. He was trying to make up for the bad start and started pressing, probably. He tried to be perfect. When he went to Biloxi and pitched well there, that helped his confidence.”

The Brewers now must decide what is best for Lopez at the outset of 2017. They prefer to pitch him against Triple-A competition but also realize Colorado Springs was not the best place for a pitcher who relies heavily on his curveball. The pitch is tough to command at high altitude.

MICROBREWS

• Slugging first baseman Cody Decker signed a minor league deal with the Brewers, whose bench coach Pat Murphy managed Decker in the Padres system. Decker will focus exclusively on playing catcher in 2017.

• Righthander Wilmy De Jesus, 16, signed a minor league deal as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic.