Miami Marlins

Otto Lopez

The waiver claim who became Miami's everyday engine

Otto Lopez arrived in Miami as an unheralded waiver claim. Two years later, he's the everyday engine of the Marlins — the focal point of the lineup and the anchor of the infield, a transformation few saw coming.

Through the first half, the 27-year-old hit a spectacular .334, near the top of the National League, with 127 hits, 26 doubles, 9 home runs, and 45 RBIs as the table-setter at the top of the order. The high-contact, low-strikeout approach gave a young Marlins offense a reliable identity it had lacked. At shortstop, his range and arm brought stability to the hardest position on the diamond.

The breakthrough earned him the first All-Star selection of his career, and he walked the red carpet in Philadelphia alongside teammate Max Meyer — the two of them representing a hungry new era of Marlins baseball. For a waiver-wire acquisition to become the engine of the team is the kind of scouting steal a franchise builds around.