How the Royals’ offseason changed Nicky Lopez’s role as everyday second baseman
There wasn’t any formal announcement. No ceremonial naming of the starters. Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny didn’t take a sword or a baseball bat and tap Nicky Lopez on each shoulder to signify he’d been knighted as his everyday second baseman.
There certainly was a difference in the tone of the discussion surrounding Lopez’s grasp on the second base job from the start of the offseason to the end of it.
The early hedging about whether Lopez’s presence might push Whit Merrifield to the outfield on a more full-time basis gave way to relative certainty that Lopez will anchor the middle infield. Matheny and Royals general manager Dayton Moore gave votes of confidence to Lopez in their public comments.
“I haven’t really had a conversation with Skip, but it’s easy to see that on social media and stuff like that,” Lopez said this week. “It means a lot to me. I care deeply about this organization, so it was great to hear. It was great to see that they had some confidence (in me) and the words from Dayton Moore too. It was awesome to see. I’m just ready to take advantage of it and help the team any way I can.”
At the end of the regular season, Moore lauded the playmaking ability, athleticism and creativity of the combination of shortstop Adalberto Mondesi and Lopez.
However, Moore also cautioned, “You’ve got to have production from those spots. You can’t have a period of time when you’re not getting production out of shortstop and second base. You can live with one or the other struggling offensively, but not both.”
At the time, it seemed an indicator that the second base job could remain in a state of fluctuation.
Last month after the Royals pulled off a trade to acquire left fielder Andrew Benintendi, Moore honed in on Lopez when discussing what the addition of Benintendi along with first baseman Carlos Santana meant for the team’s lineup.
“It allows us to utilize Nicky Lopez in a role that’s going to be more meaningful,” Moore said. “He can just settle in, play defense. He doesn’t have to worry about trying to do more than he’s capable of doing offensively.”
Last season, Lopez led all second baseman in the majors in defensive runs saved, as calculated by FanGraphs.com.
He ranked second among AL second baseman in range factor/per game, according to Baseball-Reference.com, and also turned the second-most double plays of any second baseman in the American League.
Lopez earned recognition as an AL Gold Glove finalist at second base.
Offensively, Lopez still hasn’t found his footing in the majors. He slashed .201/.286/.266 this season with a strikeout rate of 21.4%. He never struck out at a clip higher than 11.5% in the minors.
The Royals’ fifth-round selection in the 2016 draft, Lopez raked at Triple-A Omaha in 2019 before his promotion to the majors. He posted a .353/.457/.500 slash line, six doubles and three home runs in 31 games. He also scored 27 runs and stole nine bases.
In 2018, Lopez split the year between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Omaha and hit .308/.382/.417. He led all Royals minor leaguers in hits (155) and won the organization’s George Brett Award as their top minor-league player.
“I took the necessary steps needed this offseason,” Lopez said. “Last offseason it was to get bigger, stronger. I think this offseason I focused way more on the hitting aspect and what I needed to do. I know what I did to get up to the big leagues, and I need to just get back to that.
“Put the ball in play. Play small ball. I’ll be batting low in the order. I know that, so it’s any way to get on, any way to move a runner so that it’s in scoring position for Whit, Mondi, Bennie, (Jorge) Soler, to drive them in. That’s what I need to do.”
Lopez said he worked with hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and John Mabry on being “more direct to ball” simplifying things at the plate and being “more compact.” He has tried to eliminate some of the moving parts in his stance and swing.
Matheny has remained a proponent of Lopez’s ability to contribute offensively with the proper approach.
“I watched a little bit of it when I was in the development department,” Matheny said. “To see the kind of at-bat that this guy can put together — which is that at-bat that we’ve been talking about since October.
“That grinding at-bat. That managing the strike zone at-bat. That take your free base at-bat. Do all the little things right at-bat. … To me that really encompasses Nicky Lopez, and it’s not trying to turn him into something else. It’s maximizing what he already does really well.”
