Otto Lopez is still chasing a pair of milestones that would put a stamp on a season already filled with production: 200 hits and an NL batting title.
The gap is narrow enough to keep the conversation alive. Lopez needs 15 more hits to reach 200, a mark that would make him just the seventh player in franchise history to do it. He also remains in the mix for the club’s fourth National League batting crown, joining Luis Arraez in 2023, Dee Strange-Gordon in 2015 and Hanley Ramirez in 2009.
After Sunday’s hitless game, the 27-year-old stood at 185 hits, most in the Majors, and was batting .305. That left him behind Phillies second baseman Arraez, who was hitting .313, and D-backs catcher Gabriel Moreno, who sat at .307. Lopez also entered Monday third among NL position players in fWAR at 5.5, trailing only NL MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong at 10.4 and Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz at 6.2.
“At this point, I just want to finish strong,” Lopez said. “All I'm thinking about is just finishing as strong as possible.
If I can get to 200 or not, I'll be just happy about how this year has been. I'm not expecting anything.
Right now, all expectation is to go out every day and just get a win.”
There’s at least a possibility Lopez gets a few extra chances at the plate down the stretch. He hit leadoff on Saturday, and manager Clayton McCullough didn’t rule out moving him around again over the final six games.
“I would love for that to happen for Otto,” McCullough had said of his chase for 200. “Tonight, him leading off was as much against [Casey] Mize and going with more righties toward the top and spreading out the lefties a little bit. I think there's a chance we could see Otto hitting all over the place.”
The math gives Lopez a path, even if it’s a steep one. He has 55 multihit games this season, one fewer than Arraez and Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson.
His best six-game hit total in 2026 is 14, a number he’s reached twice. That kind of stretch would leave him one shy of 200.
If Lopez were to average four at-bats per game over the final stretch, he would need to go 13-for-24 just to catch Arraez’s current average of .31378. Even that wouldn’t guarantee 200 hits.
McCullough said the door is still open if Lopez catches fire.
“I'm not putting it past him that he couldn't get really hot here down the stretch and chase 200 down,” McCullough said, “and if he's able to do that, then there's a good chance that he's able to push his average up even higher.”
Lopez’s power numbers look different from last season, but the overall production has held up. He has 11 homers, down from 15 a year ago, but he has more extra-base hits overall with 52 compared to 36. That’s fueled by 32 doubles, which rank tied for eighth in the NL, and nine triples, which rank third.
He’s also done damage with his legs. Lopez has 30 infield hits, second only to Simpson according to FanGraphs. That lines up with his 50% ground-ball rate entering Sunday, but it also speaks to his sprint speed, which sits at 28.5 ft/sec and in the 81st percentile.
Without the injury he suffered in July, Lopez might not be the one chasing at all. On July 18, he led the Majors with a .335 average.
That night in Milwaukee, a grounder took a big hop and hit his right ring finger. X-rays were negative, but inflammation kept him out for the next two games.
When he came back, the numbers moved the wrong way.
From July 21 through Sept. 5, a 42-game stretch in which his average dropped to .300 on consecutive days - the lowest it had been since April 4 - Lopez hit .220/.270/.286.
“I think the slump came because of the injury on the hand,” hitting coach Pedro Guerrero said. “Being afraid of getting jammed after your hand hurts -- it's kind of inevitable.
Your body's just going to try to protect. Then, when it wasn't hurting anymore, now the patterns that he created, trying to protect the hand, it was really hard to get out of that mindset or feel.
So, that was a little bit of a challenge, but something for me to grow and learn from it, and trying to get him back a little bit quicker.”
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