Lopez's dad sees DR-to-Canada journey pay off

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola’s Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BOSTON – A 9-year-old Otto Lopez and Montreal, Canada, didn’t get off on the right foot.

Lopez, who only spoke Spanish at the time, had arrived in the dead of winter. Though there was a Latin community there, he missed the culture and food of his hometown of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Lopez yearned for the days of playing street ball with bottle caps and balls of tape.

“I got there in winter and it was a little hard thinking about if it's going to be summer soon,” Lopez said. “But that's where I started my first season as a Little Leaguer.”

Lopez’s dad, Otto Sr., worked as a truck driver and brought the family to Canada for a better life. He wanted his son to study. Otto Jr. had other ideas.

“First thing that he wanted to do when he was there was to play baseball,” Lopez Sr. said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “‘Buy me a bat and a glove.’ That's what he was doing all the time.”

Otto Sr., who had never played baseball, was still an avid fan of the game, just like his fellow countrymen. Before Otto Jr. arrived in Montreal, Otto Sr. worked both the day and night shifts. He cut back to just the mornings so he could spend time with his son.

The Majors felt like a faraway dream. Lopez didn’t see games in person, settling for watching them on TV. But things changed when a Little League tournament took place in Toronto, where his team saw Rogers Centre and learned the history of the Blue Jays’ ballpark.

“All the ideas that I had when I was young, it was to be a Major League player,” Lopez said. “In my mind, that was one of the experiences that I will enjoy the most. And I worked really hard for it, and right now, we're here, and I know all the process that we went through. Looking back, it was a lot, but it worked.”

It was around the age of 14 that Lopez, who is now trilingual, told his father that his French wasn’t going so well at Édouard-Montpetit School. He wanted to pursue baseball, which was tough to do year-round because of Canada’s climate. What if he went back to the Dominican Republic?

Lopez’s uncle, Hurbano, used to play softball and knew someone at the Niche Academy, where Juan Soto developed. Both Otto Sr. and Hurbano agreed it was best for Otto Jr.’s dream, so he relocated.

The decision paid off. Following a full year of training, Lopez signed as an international free agent with the Blue Jays on July 4, 2016.

“He had faith that if he signed there, it was going to be successful for Otto,” Otto Sr. said. “Very proud that he was able to achieve that.”

Added Otto Jr.: “When I was seeing my potential there in the DR, I was like, ‘Oh, I have a chance.’ And after a year, I started to do some tryouts and stuff, and after that, got more sorted about, and I signed.”

Fast forward nine years to this weekend in Boston.

Recently retired Otto Sr. made the four-hour drive across the border to sit in the family section at Fenway Park to watch his son play. These days, he splits his time between Montreal and the Dominican Republic.

Otto Sr. has been able to catch other games in person, but this series coincides with Players’ Weekend. Major League Baseball uses it to showcase anything from players’ off-field interests, the people who helped them reach The Show or their favorite charity.

“Otto is a guy that you can see has sacrificed a lot just to be where he is at,” Otto Sr. said. “Everything in life has sacrifices. I think he's the guy that was able to develop most of the way he did in DR. It was good to get with the culture. It was easy for him.”

After cups of coffee in 2021-22 with Toronto, Lopez didn’t reach the big leagues again until last season with Miami. He is now the club’s everyday shortstop, and one of the game’s best on defense. In between, Lopez also competed for Team Canada at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Otto Sr. could not be more proud of the man his son has become. In turn, Otto Jr. is appreciative of what his dad taught him about being a husband, dad and ballplayer.

“All the sacrifices you make, it was just for him to reach his dream, and being able to see him reaching his dream, the satisfaction is just humongous,” Lopez Sr. said.