Otto

Lopez

Lopez scored on a sacrifice fly in the first inning after reaching second on a disengagement violation and stealing third base. He tacked on another steal late in the contest. While he’s not going to hit .350 all year, his expected batting average of .298 screams that this isn’t exactly a megafluke. Lopez has been incredible for fantasy baseball managers this year and that should continue as the summer rolls on.

All this guy does is hit. Two more singles – both with runners in scoring position – raised his league best batting average to .342 in one of the best stories of this season. A big reason for Lopez’s massive step forward is that he’s hitting the ball harder than he ever has. In this game, he had four hard-hit balls, including one at 111.9 mph. That is harder than he’d ever hit a ball before this season began. Enjoy the ride.

It’s the first time in 335 major league games that Lopez has scored four runs. He’s currently first in the majors with a .341 average and 89 hits. It’s very likely that he’ll fall back some as the season progresses, but it’s safe to say both the Giants and the Blue Jays would love to have him back right about now.

Lopez stuffed the stat sheet while continuing his breakout campaign at the plate. The 27-year-old shortstop has a .336 average and a .365 OBP, but a .382 BABIP suggests those numbers might not be sustainable. Lopez’s 3.6 percent walk rate also doesn’t align with such a high OBP. That doesn’t mean he’s about to crater, but mild regression is likely in the months ahead.

Lopez continues his breakout campaign — breakout campaign seems like an understatement — and did damage against his first organization. He singled in a run in the first for his 23rd RBI, and the pair of thefts give him 10 stolen bases. Lopez is now slashing a remarkable .342/.372/.479 over the first 56 games, and while there’s going to assuredly be some regression over the summer, the metrics suggest this isn’t (only) good luck.

It looks to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 27-year-old infielder. Lopez is having a strong season at the dish, slashing .342/.373/.487 with four homers, 21 RBI and eight stolen bases in 212 plate appearances. Javier Sanoja will start in his place at shortstop and will bat ninth against Tobias Myers and the Mets on Friday night in Miami.

The Marlins didn’t do much against Chris Sale in this one. In fact, Lopez’s two singles accounted for half their total hits and none went for extra bases. Nevertheless, the two knocks raised his batting average up to a league-best .349 in what’s been such a strong season so far that it’s becoming difficult to ignore. Apart from that high batting average, he also has four home runs, eight stolen bases, and 51 combined runs and RBI as one of the true breakout stars from the first chunk of the season.

It was a good day at the plate for Lopez, but he got lazy on a big play in the eighth. Mauricio Dubón hit a weak grounder to Christopher Morel’s right at first base, and Morel wanted to fire to second for the forceout, but Lopez didn’t cover from short. Morel was then stuck without a play, and Dubón was credited with the go-ahead RBI single in a 4-4 game.

Lopez was plunked by Drew Rasmussen in the opening inning and swiped second base, but the Marlins were unable to cash him in. He then smacked an RBI single in the third inning and again swiped second base before being stranded there. Lopez also started a rally with a one-out double in the eighth and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Kyle Stowers. With his two-hit attack, the 27-year-old infielder is now hitting an impressive .344/.374/.503 with four homers, 21 RBI and seven stolen bases on the season.

Edwards, who slugged his third round-tripper of the season during Friday’s series opener, seems to be Miami’s preferred top-of-the-order option with Otto Lopez, Liam Hicks and Kyle Stowers rounding out the heart of the order. The 26-year-old’s speed makes him an interesting leadoff option and should translate into a few extra stolen base opportunities moving forward.