Miami Marlins Lopez pushing to make starting shortstop decision in 2026 Otto-matic

For the second year in a row, the Miami Marlins are ending a season feeling really good about their starting shortstop.

However, that's pretty much where the similarities end for 2024 starting shortstop Xavier Edwards and 2025 starting shortstop Otto Lopez. Edwards has firmly cemented himself as an offensive weapon, capable of challenging for both the batting and stolen base title. His absence from the 2026 Marlins roster would be among the more massive upsets of the offseason. Lopez, on the other hand? Staying at short, returning to second, being asked to try third, being sent to the bench - it feels like the average fan would view any fate that befalls him as all being equally likely.

The thing is...that same average fan is guilty of completely failing to appreciate just how incredible of a find Lopez has been for the Marlins.

For all of those calling to replace him, it basically boils down to Lopez being guilty of the same sin every Marlins shortstop has been guilty of since 2011: not being peak Hanley Ramirez. And to be fair, Ramirez wasn't even that in 2011, leading in part to his being replaced at short by Jose Reyes for the 2012 campaign.

Yet it would probably surprise most Marlins fans to know that Lopez has now done something Reyes never did during his time here, and is entering rare territory for Miami shortstops in the power department. Only three shortstops in franchise history have hit more home runs in a single season: Kurt Abbot, Alex Gonzalez, and Ramirez. That's it-that's the list. The last time a Miami shortstop clubbed more dingers than Lopez has in 2025 was all the way back during Hanley's last good season in 2010.

Of course, none of this is to say Lopez is an offensive star in the making for the Marlins. Just that you can more than get by with what he does offer there as long as the defense stays elite, which it has been so far in his time with Miami, provided the rest of the lineup can pick up the slack. For the season, Lopez is Top 10 in both OAA and Defensive WAR. After all, some players on a winning team do have to be good at defense, and Lopez is just about the best the Marlins have to offer right now. For two years running, he's been the second best player on his team in terms of overall WAR (per Baseball Reference), and that's definitely been his glove doing the heavy lifting.

Now, a critic could point out that just makes him Miguel Rojas, who Miami saw fit to move on from. Both are great defenders, and indeed Rojas was better. Then again, Lopez is far cheaper for the foreseeable future than Rojas was, and has shied away from turning the clubhouse into a dysfunctional middle school classroom. A sharper critic could point out that Ramirez was a pretty abysmal defender, as is say soon to be prized free agent shortstop Bo Bichette, and that the Marlins would replace Lopez for them without hesitation if such a thing was in their power. Which, of course, it isn't.

Fortunately, the Marlins don't need Lopez to be a hitter on the Bichette/Ramirez level. They did kind of need Rojas to be that though, given his captaincy status and the overall depressing state of the lineup. Plus, part of his leaving was to smooth things over in the locker room. Lopez, meanwhile, plays on a team with plenty of pop. Fish on First put out a solid piece covering his big game yesterday, and included a nugget put out by Marlins Communications that six different Marlins have had multi homer games this season, and that many of those six have done so multiple times. He also seems to be pretty well liked, and also capable of playing multiple positions.

All of that adds up to a player you want playing for you, and want on the field as much as possible.

The Marlins may well have plenty of up and coming young options at short in the minors- Aiva Arquette and Staryn Caba headline the group of six different players inside Miami's Top 30 prospects that could theoretically play there. However it looks like any realistic in house threat to Lopez locking down shortstop is years away, 2028 at the earliest.

In other words, right around the time his arbitration price could starting expensive.

Until that time comes though, the Marlins should feel very confident that they've found a starter they can build a winning team around. After all, the Marlins have proven multiple times you can win a championship with a glove first shortstop. Heck, the Dodgers just proved you can win one with an infielder as glove first as Rojas.

So as to who should start at shortstop for the Marlins in 2026, and likely 2027 as well?

The decision isn't just an obvious one. It's Otto-matic.