Who Is Raffy Lopez?

If you’re looking at the Blue Jays lineup for tonight, you probably asked yourself the same question. Who the hell is Raffy Lopez? Apparently he’s what happens when you mix Russell Martin and Jose Bautista together.

Holy shit. That’s actually really accurate.

But anyways, Raffy Lopez is the most recent addition to Toronto’s backup catcher game of musical chairs. When Miguel Montero got placed on the 10-day disabled list with a groin injury, the Jays called up Lopez, who had been killing it for Triple-A Buffalo.

For the season, Lopez is slashing a .288/.370/.563 line between Double-A New Hampshire and Buffalo with 16 homers. He’s a career minor leaguer who was originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 16th round of the 2011 draft, and has only played 16 games at the Major League level between the Cubs and Cincinnati Reds.

The expectations for Lopez are, uh, not very high to say the least! All told, the Jays have rolled through four different backup catchers — Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Mike Ohlman, Luke Maile, and Miguel Montero — and the three have combined for -1.8 wins above replacement according to FanGraphs.

Godspeed to you, Raffy! Let’s hope you can etch your name in Blue Jays history by going Randy Ruiz level nuclear for a couple weeks en route to a Blue Jays playoff run!