Lopez finding confidence again after slump

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MIAMI -- This is a story about patience and belief paying off.

So often it’s easy to forget the inevitability of slumps during a marathon season.

When the Marlins claimed little-known Otto Lopez from the Giants on April 4, he had just 11 career Major League plate appearances -- and none since 2022. But he got off to a scorching start at Triple-A Jacksonville and carried that over in Miami when he was recalled 11 days later.

The 25-year-old Lopez recorded a slash line of .295/.324/.421 through his first 35 games. Over the next 30 games from June 11-July 30, however, he slashed .165/.195/.211 and spent 17 days on the injured list with lower back inflammation.

“It's a long year,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Bryce Harper's really good all year. There's not many guys that are just super successful for six months. So you're allowed to not have a good month. You're allowed not to have a good week. I think it's unfair if I just take you out of the lineup because you're not having a good 10-day run or whatever it is. You've got to fight through some stuff. That's what this league's all about.”

It would have been easy to bench Lopez.

But that’s not how Schumaker and his coaching staff operate. Rather than bringing players into the office to cause unnecessary panic, they have organic conversations during batting practice or in the cages. The hope is their confidence will transfer over to the player.

“It's always positive reinforcement,” Schumaker said. “You have to be their biggest fan all the time. You can't just crush them. Now, if you do some stuff off the field, I'll crush you. But as far as on the field, if the effort level is always there, then I'm going to be your biggest fan, and our coaches are going to be as well. I'm hoping they all feel that way. You always feel like you're so close to getting hot again. And you want the player to always feel that.”

That’s exactly how Lopez felt. During that rough patch, he still contributed on defense. Entering Sunday, his 15 outs above average are best among National League second basemen. His eight defensive runs saved are third behind Brice Turang (20) and NL MVP candidate Ketel Marte (11).

With time, Lopez regained his confidence.

“It's a little bit frustrating sometimes when we get a bad slump and get bad situations when you're not hitting,” Lopez said. “Mentally, I just try to stay positive and think about all the things like my defense, good things that I'm doing, just focusing on that, and I know hitting is going to come. Just focus on good things that I do.”

Since Aug. 1, Lopez is slashing .297/.353/.414 in 33 games. In Saturday’s 9-5 win over the Phillies at loanDepot park, Lopez put together his second consecutive three-hit performance. He also became the third Marlin this season to collect a hit in five straight at-bats, according to Elias Sports Bureau. When that streak ended on a fifth-inning groundout, he followed it up with a solo shot in the seventh.

Lopez has done a better job of recognizing pitches and staying with his back leg. In doing so, he has been able to go the other way and up the middle -- “his bread and butter” as Schumaker called it -- rather than pull-happy while chasing pitches.

“It's been a while,” said Lopez, who has two walk-off hits in 2024. “I've been working on my swing and trying to get better as much as I can to help the team, and it just came. Like, just exploded.”