Tag: eduardo lopez

Red Sox lose former top international signing to Phillies in minor-league phase of Rule 5 Draft

The Red Sox lost four players to other clubs in the minor-league phase of Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft, including their top international signing six years ago.

Eduardo Lopez, a first baseman/outfielder from the Dominican Republic, was selected by the Phillies in the first round (27th overall) of the Triple-A phase on Wednesday. The 22-year-old has been assigned to Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate but will more than likely open the 2025 season at the High-A or Double-A level.

Lopez received the largest bonus ($1.15 million) of any international free agent the Red Sox brought in during the 2018-2019 international signing period. At that time, Dave Dombrowski — who now serves as the Phillies’ president of baseball operations — held that same title with Boston.

After officially putting pen to paper in July 2018, Lopez did not make his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League until the following June. The Tamboril native’s 2020 season was wiped out because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was limited to just 11 games between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Salem in 2021 due to an unspecified injury. Injuries were again an issue in 2022 and 2023 to a certain extent.

Lopez returned to and spent the entirety of the 2024 season at High-A Greenville. Serving as bench depth, the switch-hitter batted .232/.343/.425 with 11 doubles, three triples, a career-high six home runs, 23 RBIs, 29 runs scored, four stolen bases, 30 walks, and 49 strikeouts in 56 games (213 plate appearances) for the Drive. That includes a .188/.325/.406 slash line from the right side of the plate and a .242/.347/.430 slash line from the left side.

Among the 131 hitters who made at least 210 trips to the plate in the South Atlantic League this year, Lopez ranked 21st in line-drive rate (25.6 percent), 22nd in walk rate (14.1 percent), 23rd in isolated power (.193), 34th in slugging percentage, 36th in wOBA (.355) and wRC+ (120), 38th in OPS (.768), 39th in speed score (6.9), 47th in on-base percentage, 52nd in strikeout rate (23 percent), and 59th in swinging-strike rate (12.3 percent), per FanGraphs.

On the other side of the ball, Lopez saw the majority of his playing time with Greenville come at first base after only making one career start there prior to this past season. The 5-foot-11, 187-pounder logged 332 1/3 innings at first, committing two errors in 279 chances. He also started three games in left field (where he recorded three assists), five starts in right field (where he recorded one assist), and seven games at DH.

Despite the large signing bonus and flashes of potential he showed, Lopez never emerged as a premier prospect in his six-plus years with the Red Sox organization. He was left off the club’s 38-player Triple-A reserve list for the second straight year last month, which allowed the Phillies to purchase his contract and add him to their system on Wednesday.

Lopez, who turns 23 in May, is on track to become eligible for minor-league free agency for the first time at the end of the 2025 season.

(Picture of Eduardo Lopez: Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive)

Red Sox OF prospect Eduardo Lopez homers on first pitch he sees this spring

Over the weekend, Red Sox outfield prospect Eduardo Lope left a strong impression by homering in his first at-bat of the spring.

Called up from minor-league camp for Sunday’s split-squad Grapefruit League contest against the Yankees at JetBlue Park, Lopez came into the game in the top half of the sixth inning as a defensive replacement for starting left fielder Jarren Duran.

An inning and a half later, Lopez stepped up to the plate for the first time to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Hitting from the left side, the switch-hitting 21-year-old wasted little time introducing himself to Yankees pitching prospect Clayton Beeter, as he promptly drilled the first pitch he saw from the righty over the visitor’s bullpen in deep right field for his first-ever home run in a major-league spring training game.

By going deep in his first and only plate appearance of the afternoon, Lopez gave the Red Sox a commanding nine-run lead as they went on to defeat the Yankees by a final score of 12-6.

Unlike other minor-leaguers who have made cameos for the Sox in Grapefruit League action this spring, Lopez is not currently viewed as one of the premier prospects in the organization. The Dominican Republic native was Boston’s top international signing in 2018, as he received a $1.15 million bonus to go pro that July. He made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League the following June and showed signs of promise there but has not yet lived up to his potential.

That, in part, is due to how often Lopez has been injured. The 2020 minor-league season being wiped out because of the COVID-19 pandemic certainly did not help things, but Lopez has been hindered by different issues since making his stateside debut three years ago. He was limited to just 11 games between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Salem in 2021 “due to an unspecified injury that may have been to his left hand/wrist,” according to SoxProspects.com. He returned to Salem in 2022 but made three separate trips to the injured list altogether there.

Last season actually represented a breakthrough of sorts for Lopez as he played in a career-high 79 games at High-A Greenville. In those 79 games, he held his own by batting .261/.356/.384 with 16 doubles, one triple, five home runs, 45 RBIs, 48 runs scored, 12 stolen bases, 42 walks, and 81 strikeouts over 315 plate appearances for the Drive before being shut down in early September.

Though his offensive production tapered off to some degree in the second half, it was nonetheless a solid 2023 season for Lopez. Among those in the South Atlantic League who made at least 300 trips to the plate last year, Lopez ranked 15th in walk rate (13.3 percent), 19th in batting average, 20th in on-base percentage, 35th in OPS (.740), 28th in line-drive rate (20.8 percent), 36th in swinging-strike rate (12.6 percent), and 33rd in wRC+ (107), per FanGraphs.

Defensively, as he has throughout his career, Lopez saw playing time at all three outfield positions while with Greenville. The 5-foot-11, 187-pounder logged 147 innings in left, 218 2/3 innings in center, and 229 innings in right while committing a total of three errors in 130 chances. He also made one start at first base last July, which is something he had never done before then.

Lopez, who turns 22 in May, is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to Double-A Portland for the start of the 2024 minor-league season. With that being said, it may be tough for Lopez to find at-bats if he is behind the likes of Roman Anthony, Corey Rosier, Phillip Sikes, and others on the Sea Dogs’ outfield depth chart to open the year.

(Picture of Eduardo Lopez: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)

Red Sox outfield prospect Eduardo Lopez celebrates 20th birthday by hitting third home run in his last 5 games

Red Sox outfield prospect Eduardo Lopez celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday by having a very productive day at the plate for Low-A Salem in their doubleheader against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

Batting sixth and starting in center field for both contests at Haley Toyota Field, Lopez went a cumulative 3-for-6 with one double, one home run, three RBIs, and one run scored as Salem split the twin bill with Myrtle Beach.

Over his last five games, Lopez has hit three home runs and collected six RBIs. On the 2022 season as a whole, the switch-hitter is batting .306/.364/.531 to go along with two doubles, all three of his homers, seven runs driven in, four runs scored, three stolen bases, five walks, and 19 strikeouts over 13 games spanning 55 plate appearances. He began the year on the injured list and did not make his 2022 debut until April 23.

Defensively, Lopez has seen all of his playing time to this point in the year come in either center or right field. Taking Sunday’s showing into account, the 6-foot, 187 pounder has now logged 72 innings in center and 17 innings in right while recording a total of three outfield assists.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Lopez originally signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent in July 2018 and received a hefty $1.150 million bonus — the largest of the class — by doing so. He made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League the following June.

After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 minor-league season and injury limited him to just 11 games between the Florida Complex League and Salem in 2021, Lopez came into the 2022 campaign ranked by SoxProspects.com as the No. 35 and by FanGraphs as the No. 33 prospect in Boston’s farm system.

Per his SoxProspects.com scouting report, Lopez possesses a high baseball IQ and has “solid overall instincts” for his age. FanGraphs, on the other hand, notes that Lopez “is a fluid athlete with a smooth, well-connected swing from both sides of the plate and decent feel for contact” who also is an average runner “with good outfield instincts and a plus arm.”

Given his history, it feels safe to assume that the Red Sox will exercise patience when it comes to Lopez’s development. In other words, it would not be surprising if he spent the rest of the year with Salem regardless of how he performs. Could a late-season promotion to High-A Greenville be possible? Perhaps, but only time will tell.

(Picture of Eduardo Lopez courtesy of the Salem Red Sox)