Otto Lopez adds power to his game

MIAMI, Fla. — Otto Lopez quickly impressed people in his first season with the Miami Marlins in 2024. The former waiver claim ended his rookie campaign with a .270 batting average, 20 stolen bases, and elite defense at second base. Offensively, Lopez's main assets were his contact ability and speed.

The Dominican native boosted his home run total the following year, from six to 15. Lopez made even more contact and lowered his ground ball rate, yet his overall slugging percentage actually went down.

Early in his age-27 season, it's all seemingly coming together. Lopez has found a home in the heart of the Marlins lineup—and near the top of some prestigious leaderboards.

Now playing shortstop, Lopez is quantifiably hitting the ball harder than he ever has. Entering Tuesday, his hard-hit rate of 53.6% puts him above the 90th percentile of MLB hitters. Contrast that with the previous two seasons, when he ranked below average. The only qualified shortstop who edges him out in that category is Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles (53.8%). His barrel rate—defined by Baseball Savant as the percentage of balls put into play with a perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle—is also a career-high of 13.0%.

This has culminated in a team-best 10 extra-base hits, the latest being a go-ahead RBI double in Monday's Marlins win.

From a physical standpoint, Lopez credits hitting coaches Pedro Guerrero and Chris Hess with helping him engage his lower body more than his upper. He’s also been toying with “The Stack” this year, which is a bat-like tool with added weights that help improve swings, specifically by increasing bat speed. Lopez’s average bat speed is slightly higher than it was last year (72.1 miles per hour compared to 71.7 in 2025).

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough says Lopez’s newfound power production is not just a byproduct of how he’s swinging, but what he’s swinging at. His pitch selection is allowing him to capitalize on the pitches he can inflict the most damage on, as opposed to just putting a ball in play.

“There's less empty at-bats,” McCullough said. “There's less early-count chase. There's been less early-count soft contact. I think he just looks very hitterish right now.”

Perhaps most impressive has been Lopez’s ability to add power without sacrificing his contact ability. His 16.3% strikeout rate and 19.5% whiff rate are both roughly on par with his typical career marks. 

“I think he has just given himself more of a chance to do this with consistency and regularity because the (pitches) that he's firing at give him the best chance to do that,” McCullough said.  Getting balls up, out, over the plate, getting them elevated, or pitches that he can drive.”

 

If Lopez were to maintain his .554 slugging percentage throughout 2026, it would be the 11th-highest single-season mark in Marlins history. The only shortstop who has ever topped that for this franchise was Hanley Ramírez in 2007 (.562 SLG), on his way to placing 10th in National League MVP voting.

“He's a physically strong guy,” McCullough said of the 5’10”, 185-pound shortstop. “Maybe it doesn't appear that way. It's a really compact body. He's strong. He's got strong hands. There's speed in his bat. So I think it's not, to me, that completely shocking, that we're seeing some of this.”