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Taking a look at the career of Felipe Lopez, the only player the Blue Jays picked eighth overall
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Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
May 14, 2025, 12:00 EDTUpdated: May 14, 2025, 07:37 EDT
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The 2025 Major League Baseball draft is under two months away.
Thanks to a 74-88 record, the Toronto Blue Jays missed the postseason and entered the lottery. Despite the fifth-best odds to land the first overall pick, the Blue Jays dropped all the way to the eighth overall pick, as the St. Louis Cardinals (0.8% odds) and Seattle Mariners (0.5% odds) moved up in the draft. Something similar happened to the Toronto Raptors during the National Basketball Association’s draft lottery on Monday.
Anyway, their eighth overall pick is their highest since the 2020 draft, when they selected Austin Martin. Of the 48 drafts the team has participated in, the Jays have only picked eighth overall one other time. In this article, we’ll look at who they drafted and how that player performed in the big leagues.

The Jays selected Felipe Lopez with the eighth overall pick in 1998

In a little over two weeks from now, it will be the 27th anniversary of the 1998 draft. This draft has produced one Hall of Famer, CC Sabathia, who’ll be introduced to Cooperstown later this summer. Moreover, this draft produced six All-Stars in the first round, including the Blue Jays’ pick.
With the eighth overall pick in the 1998 draft, the Jays selected Felipe Lopez out of Lake Brantley High School in Florida. Lopez spent his first three professional seasons working his way up in the minor leagues. Eventually, he made his big league debut in 2001, slashing .260/.304/.418 with five home runs in 192 plate appearances for an 83 wRC+ and a 0.6 fWAR.
Lopez only played one other season with the Jays, slashing .227/.287/.387 with eight home runs in 309 plate appearances in 2002 for a 73 wRC+ and a 0.3 fWAR. That off-season, the Jays traded him in a four-team trade, with the Jays acquiring Jason Arnold in that deal. Arnold, a pitcher, never made it to the big leagues.
The Jays sent Lopez to the Cincinnati Reds, where Lopez struggled in his first two seasons. However, Lopez’s career-best season came in 2005, where he slashed .291/.352/.486 with 23 home runs in 648 plate appearances for a 116 wRC+ and a 4.7 fWAR. The infielder earned his only All-Star nod that season, as well as the Silver Slugger award for shortstop. In his next two seasons, he hit below average.
Lopez had another good season in 2009, split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers, slashing .310/.383/.427 with nine home runs in 680 plate appearances. The 2010 and 2011 seasons were Lopez’s final seasons in the big leagues, posting below-average numbers.
Although Lopez was nominated as an All-Star and won the National League Silver Slugger, he didn’t live up to the expectations of a top 10 pick. Lopez ended up with 11 MLB seasons under his belt, so it could be worse, but hopefully the Jays’ selection in 2025 has better success in his big league career.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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