This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The city of Naperville is a wonderful place located approximately 45 minutes from downtown Chicago.

There’s a White Chocolate Grill on Freedom Dr., which is a great restaurant and a perfect meeting locale if you have a friend who lives in Elburn, Ill., as I did. It’s also the hometown of White Sox second baseman Nicky Lopez.

Then again, anyone who has listened to White Sox broadcasts of games against the Royals when Lopez played from 2019-22 and for a part of '23 knows that particular fact to be true.

“Everyone has been saying that it’s like a drinking game now, whenever you say ‘Nicky Lopez from Naperville,’” a smiling Lopez told me during our recent conversation. “I make a conscious effort of saying I’m from Naperville, Bolingbrook, because I know how if you are from Chicago, it means something.

“Sometimes people from Chicago don’t really like when someone says you are from Chicago and oh, it’s actually Naperville. That’s why I say Bolingbrook or Naperville.”

Lopez, who turns 29 on March 13, takes pride in the hometown where his parents and two older brothers continue to reside. He returns for holidays, although he jokes that when the cold weather hits, they come visit him and his wife in their current North Scottsdale residence.

After graduating from Naperville Central High School in 2013 as a baseball standout, Lopez was inducted to its athletic Hall of Fame on Jan. 26, 2024. It was a special honor for someone of such a youthful age, especially from a school featuring renowned athletes such as Candace Parker, Sean Payton and Owen Daniels.

Being part of the White Sox also is a special feeling for the left-handed-hitting Lopez. He came to the South Side on Nov. 17 via a five-player return from Atlanta for left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer. Lopez found out the news the day before his wedding. One career goal always was to play for a hometown Chicago team, and he gets to do so in his prime.

He also gets to work with Jim Thome, the Hall of Famer and special assistant to the general manager, whom Lopez met years ago as a fourth or fifth grader while visiting the Bulls/Sox Training Academy in nearby Lisle.

“I remember perfectly, I walked up to him, and I was like, ‘Hi Jim, big fan of yours. Do you mind signing an autograph?’” Lopez said. “So he signed the top of my batting gloves, and I still have it. I’ve always been a huge fan of his.”

Lopez's family gravitated to being Chicago baseball fans, but they went to more White Sox games than Cubs contests. Lopez was a fan of Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter, so he watched a great deal of Yankees games.

Now, young fans with dreams of playing baseball who reside everywhere from Naperville to Chicago will be watching Lopez in action. He’s an individual who seems to enjoy every moment he spends on the field or in the clubhouse.

“Everyone talks about offense and defense and how do you run the bases, but a lot of people leave out the intangibles of being a good clubhouse guy, a high motor,” Lopez said. “Being a guy who is high character and brings something to a clubhouse.

“I hang my hat on defense. I’ve had some good seasons in the big leagues hitting. But one thing that I don’t falter from or get away from is being a good teammate and being a good clubhouse guy, bring energy every single day. Every time I’m on the field, I’m going to bust my butt and give 110 percent, and that’s something I hope Chicago likes.

“I’ll do it for them. They are a blue-collar fan base. They want to see hard work and they want to see people busting their butt down the line, respecting the game of baseball, and that’s something I hang my hat on.”