Kansas City Royals’ Nicky Lopez re-visits his earlier comment about ‘unselfish win’
Following Friday night’s game in Toronto, Kansas City Royals infielder Nicky Lopez was waiting for reporters as they came into the clubhouse.
Lopez, one of the oldest and longest tenured position players currently on the revamped active roster, made it a point to clear up any misinterpretation or reading between the lines of comments he made following the club’s win the previous night in the series opener against the Blue Jays.
The Royals came to Toronto without 10 players, including a large chunk of the core of their everyday lineup, due to Canadian travel restrictions that prevent individuals from entering the country without proof of vaccination from COVID-19.
To help fill out the roster without those unvaccinated players, the Royals promoted eight players from the minors to the active roster. Five of those players were placed on the major-league roster for the first time in their careers. The Royals pulled out a 3-1 series-opening win, the largest upset in MLB this season, with that group.
Afterwards, Lopez described it as an “unselfish win.”
On social media, that comment had been taken by some as a slight towards teammates who weren’t on the trip because of their choice not to be vaccinated. Lopez replied on Twitter in an effort to shut down that thought on Thursday night.
Friday, Lopez addressed that with reporters after the game.
“The unselfish comment that seemed to be taken out of context yesterday, the boys know back home that I would never put any slander or shade or whatever you guys want to call it on them. By unselfish, what I meant was we laid a sac bunt down when we needed to. We had a clutch base hit when we needed to.
“And we had a guy come up from Triple-A and deliver in a really big situation for us and hit a home run for his first hit. We played really good team baseball, and it was unselfish because everyone was pulling for each other. It was really cool to see, given the circumstance.”
The ten players who didn’t make the trip were All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi, relief pitcher Dylan Coleman, infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier, catcher Cam Gallagher, outfielder Kyle Isbel, starting pitcher Brad Keller, catcher MJ Melendez, two-time All-Star infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield, starting pitcher Brady Singer, and Gold Glove-winning center fielder Michael A. Taylor.
That group includes several of the players who welcomed Lopez to the majors when he broke in during the 2019 season, including Merrifield who moved off of second base in order to clear regular playing time for Lopez.
Lopez seemed a bit shaken that his comments were taken by anyone as a veiled dig at teammates who he considers some of his closest friends away from the field.
Asked if the excitement that was evident in the players, including himself, following Thursday’s win was because of the underdog mentality and pulling out the win, Lopez replied, “Absolutely. I think what was more exciting about it was that a guy that has been highly talked about in Triple-A — multiple guys, actually — that are getting their first opportunity, the taste of the big leagues and playing against a really good team, a playoff team and to be able to deliver in a situation like that for us and to be able to win like that was special. Emotions were high. Everyone was pulling for each other.”
“No rift” in clubhouse
Lopez said repeatedly in recent days that he respects the decisions each of those players made, and he reiterated that point again.
Merrifield, one of the clubhouse leaders, had also taken criticism recently for comments he made about perhaps being willing to change his stance on getting the vaccine if he was on a team competing for a playoff spot. Merrifield did a radio interview with 610 Sports Radio’s “Cody and Gold” show to clarify his comments. That interview aired on Friday.
Lopez also addressed that matter.
“The quotes sometimes in the media can get skewed out of proportion,” Lopez said. “Do we think that the stuff that Whit said or the guys back home was out of spite of us or the city or they’re doing this stance because they want to do it out of spite of us? No, we don’t. We respect their decision. We respect that that’s their stance, and we have to respect them.
“I think, most importantly, we’ve to talk about what’s going on here right now. Some guys that are getting called up, making their debuts for the first time and delivering and playing their butt off. It’s really cool to see.”
Lopez repeatedly expressed support for the 10 players who aren’t on the trip, and said there’s no division within the team.
In regard to the reaction to Merrifield’s comments, Lopez said, “Sometimes emotions get the best of you and you say some stuff, maybe, you didn’t mean. But it wasn’t out of spite of us and it wasn’t out of spite of the city. So I think we’ve got to get over that hump. There’s no rift between us. We respect their decision.
“Do we wish they were here with us? Yeah. But I think what needs to be talked about more is the guys that are busting their (butt) every single day here right now and are getting an opportunity to play in the big leagues.”
