When looking for dynasty players to go after, it is easy to cast your gaze toward the young stars who are or were on all of the top prospect lists. You know, someone like Kristian Campbell.
Going after someone like Campbell makes tons of sense as he will be an anchor player for years. But unless you are somehow able to corner the market on snagging every top 100 prospect, you will need to find players who fly under the radar and fill voids – because all teams have voids.
That is why I am turning my attention to Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins, a player who has taken advantage of being on a team that is rebuilding to establish himself as a solid major league player.
Let’s look at Mr. Lopez.
Career Stats
| YEAR | LEVEL/TEAM | G | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-25 | Minors | 522 | 326 | 21 | 234 | 90 | .300 | .366 | .413 |
| 2021 | Toronto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| 2022 | Toronto | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .667 | .700 | 1.367 |
| 2024 | Miami | 117 | 49 | 6 | 39 | 20 | .270 | .313 | .377 |
| 2025 | Miami | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 1 | .345 | .406 | .552 |
| 162-Game Avg. | MLB | 162 | 66 | 10 | 60 | 26 | .283 | .327 | .394 |
The Beginning
Otto Lopez signed with the Blue Jays out of the Dominican Republic in 2016 and rose through the system, producing at each level he played. MLB ranked him as the organization’s 13th best prospect in 2020 and he had two outstanding seasons at Triple-A Buffalo in 2021 and 2022 and even appeared in one game with Toronto in 2021 and eight more with the Jays in 2022.
But the Blue Jays never really gave Lopez a chance and designated him for assignment in February of 2024 to add Yariel Rodriguez to the 40-man roster. The Jays eventually traded Lopez to the Giants, but a few days later he was designated for assignment again and the Marlins claimed him off waivers on April 4.
The Marlins were obviously impressed with what Lopez did in the minors, and why not? In 522 career games, he had a .300/.366/.413 slash line with 326 runs scored, 234 RBI, and 90 stolen bases.
Lopez was assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville to start the 2024 season and he hit the ground running for his new organization. Through the first 10 games of the season he slashed .436/.488/.718 with six runs scored, two homers, and six RBI. With the Marlins rebuilding (once again), they recalled Lopez. All he has done since is produce and become a key player on offense.
The Tools
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Hitting
The hit tool is what is going to keep Otto Lopez in the majors. He had a career .300 average in the minors and does a good job of controlling the strike zone. Last year with the Marlins he had a 16.8% strikeout rate, barely above the 14.5% rate he had in the minors. The one thing he could do better is work the count a bit more as he has a 6.1% career walk rate in the majors with a 5.8% rate last season. In the minors, his walk rate was 8.4%.
As you can see from last year’s spray chart, Lopez does a great job of hitting the ball to all fields. A right-handed hitter, he went to the opposite field 25% of the time on all batted balls, with a pull percentage of 31%.
When he makes contact, he isn’t going to overwhelm you with a high exit velocity, barrel%, or hard-hit% as he ranked in the 26th, 21st, and 42nd percentile in those categories last season. However, he ranked in the 87th percentile in squared-up%, allowing a lot of his ground balls to get through the infield for hits.
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Power
As I mentioned above, Otto Lopez does not hit the ball hard. He does have some pull power, but hitting home runs is not his game. And unless the Marlins drastically change his approach at the plate, he isn’t suddenly going to lift the ball and drive it out of the park.
Last season he had a 53.6% ground ball rate and through the first week of this season, it is at 43%. However, if he makes some small adjustments to get the ball in the air a little more often, he would be a prime candidate to rack up a lot of doubles and up his slugging percentage.
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Speed
Aside from the solid contact skills Lopez has, he also has good speed. His 28.7 mph spring speed ranked in the 86th percentile last season. And he puts his speed to good use as he stole 20 bases last season and is 21-for-26 in steals as a major leaguer. In the minors, he was 90-for-128.
The Verdict
The Blue Jays gave up on Otto Lopez and are probably regretting their decision to let him go considering the number of second baseman who have played for them since last season.
I’m not saying Lopez is a top 15 second baseman, but he is a starter who gets on base and steals bases. That is a pretty solid player to have on your team. He may be on your bench, but if your starter gets hurt or has a day off, Lopez would be a great person to slide into the starting lineup.
In really deep leagues, he is a lot better at the plate than a host of other second basemen. Depending on the platform your league uses, he has multi-positional value as he is listed as a second baseman and shortstop in Yahoo leagues but only at second base in ESPN and Fantrax.
But whether he plays only one position or multiple spots, he has value. Lopez is taking a firm hold of the second base job in Miami, meaning he is going to get a lot of playing time and the chance to steal 20 to 30 bases, score runs, and drive in some runs here and there.
Thanks for reading and come back again next week.
Was trying to buy for steals and he had that minpower binge that made him too expensive in my dynasty. If he can get 10/30 .300 that is basically Arreaz but useful.
Aside from trading for stars at the risk of your future, I firmly believe the difference between winning and losing is who does the better job of finding the right “role” players. Lopez is one of those players.