Who is Otto Lopez? It’s a reasonable question to ask. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native is in his second season with the Miami Marlins and his first as an Opening Day major leaguer.
Over the past week, the second baseman has been one of the key players as the Marlins have strung together seven consecutive wins to rise out of the National League East cellar, surpassing the Washington Nationals and improving to 37-45. His contributions have earned him World Baseball Network’s International MLB Player of the Week honors for the week of June 23-29. This is Lopez’s second World Baseball Network honor, as he was a member of the 2024 WBN International All-Rookie Team.
In six games last week, the Marlins traveled to San Francisco and swept the Giants, then swam into Phoenix and took three from the Diamondbacks. In those six games, Lopez went 11-for-26 with 13 RBIs, two home runs and two doubles.
How good has Lopez been of late? He has a 10-game hitting streak dating back to June 19, during which he is 17-for-41—equating to a .414 batting average—and has driven in at least one run in each game of the Marlins’ seven-game win streak.
Lopez made his MLB debut in 2021, appearing in one game for the Toronto Blue Jays. He appeared in eight games for the Blue Jays the next year, going 6-for-9 with three RBIs, but missed a lot of time in 2023 with an oblique strain. In February 2024, the San Francisco Giants purchased his contract from Toronto, and he appeared in just two games in the Giants organization with Triple-A Sacramento before the Marlins claimed him on waivers.
What a claim they made.
Since being picked up off the wire, Lopez has appeared in 184 games with Miami, batting .266/.320/.383 with a .703 OPS, 14 home runs and 79 RBIs, all the while earning a shade more than the league’s minimum salary.
The Marlins host the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the Milwaukee Brewers over the July 4 weekend. Miami’s July 3 game against Minnesota will be televised live on MLB Network, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:10 p.m. EDT.
WBN MLB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/mlb/
Photo: Miami Marlins’ Otto Lopez celebrates his two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, June 27, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
