Felipe Lopez

𝕏: ItsRickyLogan

Felipe López was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 8th pick in the 1998 MLB Draft out of Lake Brantley High School in Florida. Lopez was highly sought after coming out of high school. He was named the Florida’s Player of the Year, was selected to the All-USA team and was ranked the best defensive short stop in the country. His career high school numbers were elite! .521 batting average, 7 home runs, 15 doubles, 5 triples and 34 stolen bases for a player coveted for his defensive skills.

MLB Debut

Lopez would make his Major League Debut with the Blue Jays on August 3rd, 2001 vs the Baltimore Orioles. He would go 2-5 in his MLB debut and hit his first career home run on August 23rd against the Twins in Minnesota. Lopez would play part time mostly between 2nd and Short Stop.

The Cincinnati Years

The Cincinnati Reds acquired Felipe López from the Toronto Blue Jays in a 4 team trade that involved the Reds, A’s, Blue Jays, and Diamondbacks on December 1, 2002. The Reds’ package included sending Elmer Dessens to Arizona. The Reds wanted Lopez because they knew that Barry Larkin was aging and needed to fill that position at the Major League level sooner than later. Lopez would split time between AAA Louisville and the Reds backing up Larkin up until 2005 where he would take over full time. 2005 would be Felipe’s career year. He was named to the National League All-Star team that season and won a the Silver Slugger Award. Lopez would finish 2005 with a career high 23 home runs, 15 stolen bases, hit .291 and had an OPS+ of 118. He was just the third shortstop in Reds franchise history to have a 20 home run 80 RBI season, in his first season as an everyday player. 2005 was a break out season and showed a lot of promise for the 25 year old.

Traded

Unfortunately, Felipe López would not capitalize on his breakout year and would bounce around and be a journey man for the remainder of his career. He would play for 6 more teams(STL,ARZ,BOS,TB,MIL and WSH). He would have a bounce back year in 2010 for the St. Louis Cardinals, but they would trade him to Boston. He would only play in 4 games for the Red Sox. Lopez would be out of the game after the 2011 season. Lopez would play in 10 seasons overall.

Felipe López had a pretty decent baseball career. His time in Cincinnati was overall his best years. The Reds needed someone to take over after Barry Larkin and Lopez filled that void. Lopez took over the Shortstop position full time for the Reds the following season after Larkin retired and put up excellent numbers. Up until Elly De La Cruz arrived to the Reds, Lopez held the record for the most home runs in a season for a Reds switch hitter.

Felipe Lopez recently has hosted youth baseball camps in Florida for the Orlando Youth Acadamy in Orlando Florida. He is an outspoken man of faith and is married to his Wife Jennifer and has 2 daughters.

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Photo Credit; NOMO Design

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