The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2024 season with a host of infield prospects all vying for a spot in the Major Leagues. This group included:

While he was a part of the group heading into the 2023/2024 offseason, the Blue Jays moved infielder Otto López before Spring Training rolled around, designating him for assignment and later trading him to the San Francisco Giants for cash considerations.

López cracked the Blue Jays big league roster in 2021 for one at-bat and mustered nine more in 2022, with the team boasting a strong infield core that did not have room for López on the roster. He later struggled to stay healthy in 2023, spending all season in triple-A, while boasting middle-of-the-road stats when he was on the field. He amassed a .258/.313/.343 slash line with 35 RBIs and a .656 OPS through 84 games while collecting 13 stolen bases – patrolling the middle infield while taking reps in left and centre field as well.

With the emergence of Schneider in 2023 and Barger, Jimenez, and Clement (amongst others) all competing for a spot on the Jays bench, the front office shipped López to the NL West. After struggling last season and having just one minor league option at his disposal after being added to the 40-man roster in 2021, the Jays brass moved on from the Dominican product with Canadian ties to give way to other internal players.

López’s tenure with the Giants lasted through Spring Training and he was optioned to triple-A midway through March, meaning he wouldn’t be making the Opening Day roster. The Giants would DFA López on April 1st, having not played a game in the Bay Area, with the 26-year-old being claimed off of waivers by the Miami Marlins a few days later.

It was with the Marlins that López found his groove in the big leagues, becoming a mainstay on the roster that saw him suit up in 117 games for his new club. He spent just over a week in triple-A before being called up to the Marlins roster.

While he took a few games to get going while playing sparingly off the bench, collecting just two hits through 13 at-bats, he made a statement in late April against Washington. He smacked his first big league home run off of reliever Tanner Rainey and added another single while replacing Luis Arraez as a pinch hitter.

With Arraez being traded to San Diego early into May, López started to gain everyday reps at second base and took advantage of the opportunity. Outside of a lower back injury that had him on the shelf for a few weeks in July, López was the club’s mainstay on the right side of second base after Arraez’s departure and appeared in 117 games by the season’s end.

Through 403 at-bats, the right-handed batter posted a .270/.313/.377 slash line with 23 doubles, six home runs, and 39 RBIs with 25 walks. While he isn’t a power bat by any means, López’s .690 OPS can be attributed to the low walk rate combined with the slugging numbers but he still compiled a 91 wRC+ and a 2.6 bWAR – a good chunk of which came from his stellar defence where he amassed a 9 DRS with a .989 fielding percentage. A similar formula that Atkins and co. have used over the years (high value on defense, less on the power) to try and find success.

Looking at the numbers, López posted a higher bWAR than Blue Jays mainstays like Schneider, Alejandro Kirk, and George Springer but slotted behind one of his main competitors for a roster spot heading into this season in Clement (3.4) and trailed veteran utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa (3.2), whose addition helped with the trade of López being possible (although he too was later traded at the deadline). His OPS trailed all the players mentioned above who were behind him in bWAR and Clement got the better of him in this department by just two points.

There is some give and take here given the number of games played, at-bats, etc so the comparisons aren’t all that fair if you get into the nitty-gritty of it, but it appears that once López was given a little bit of room to work and develop at the big league level, he excelled at the fielding aspects and held his own at the plate. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t the superstar player who blossomed immediately once he wasn’t with the Blue Jays, but he held his own at second base, authored a 1.7 oWAR with a .318 BABip, and was arguably better than some of the other options that suited up at second base for the Jays this season. That’s not to say that won’t change over time, which is likely what the Blue Jays brass is hoping for after moving him, but looking at the 2024 season alone, there are quite a few positives to be seen from an extended look in the big leagues in the NL West.

It will be interesting to see how these numbers compare to others like Barger, Leo Jiménez, and Orelvis Martinez, who may be given some runway to contribute over a full campaign next year depending on how the Jays offseason plans go. Add in the likes of Will Wagner, who impressed during his limited sample size in the big leagues following the trade deadline, and the Jays felt that López was the odd man out in the equation after struggling in 2023.

It’s too early to say whether letting go of López will bite the Blue Jays in the long run, especially since those he was competing against for playing time (Barger, Horwitz, Jiménez, etc) didn’t get the same playing time for the most fair comparison – at least eye to eye.

Statistically, the Jays would have benefited from having López at second base over Schneider – who eventually played more left field anyway – but may have not lived up to Horwitz from a bWAR perspective had the Jays prospect been called up earlier to finish with 75-100 more at-bats and closer to López. There will also be the question of whether he compares to the likes of Wagner, who wasn’t in the equation to start the campaign but was pushing the narrative for increased playing time toward the end of the season before hitting the IL. That alone may have forced López out of the equation if he were still around.

There will always be ‘players that got away’ from every organization and for the Jays, the next one to fit into this category could be Otto López, who fared just fine in his first full season with the Marlins.

He still has a ways to go before fans are putting this in the ‘what was Atkins thinking’ dialogue but if he continues to play solid defense at second base and finds a way to up the OPS numbers with some better plate discipline, the narrative could shift quickly – especially if the Blue Jays struggle at second base next season with their internal (or external) options.