Miami Marlins hitter earned a starting spot next season

The Miami Marlins traded star Luis Arraez to ultimately open up room at second base for Otto Lopez. Arraez is having an odd season, and while he has a chance to win another batting title, he only has 1.0 WAR so far for the season. Otto on the other hand is sitting on almost double that with 1.8 WAR. How does he look like for next season?

Otto Lopez earned a spot in the Miami Marlins starting lineup.

Second base is a premium defensive position. It's important to make sure that whoever is the starter is actually a good and ideally great defender there. That was a big part of the reason why Luis Arraez was ultimately traded. He was a subpar defender, that was best utilized at either first base or DH. Two positions that he doesn't have the power to play. He's currently a DH for the San Diego Padres.

Arraez's replacement at the keystone Otto Lopez is having a better season. At least according to WAR. He's currently batting (as of Monday) .256/.297/.349, with 4 home runs and 31 RBI in 101 games and 344 AB. He also has a 1.1 dWAR. It's that tremendous defense that is the reason for his high WAR. He's easily one of the best defensive second basemen in the game.

It's obviously foolish to compare Lopez and Arraez offensively. Arraez is an elite contact hitter who can win his third straight batting title this season. Otto is probably best batting at the bottom of the lineup. It is however obvious that Otto is the one you want to actually play second base defensively, not Arraez. So if the conversation is about which bat you'd prefer, the answer is Arraez. As far as playing second base, it's obviously Otto Lopez.

Otto Lopez is not a big bat for the middle of the lineup or anything like that. He is however a great defender, who can make sure that extra runs don't get scored. Great defense is often underrated, but saving hits and having less players from the opposing team on base as a result...that leads to extra wins. The Miami Marlins have a keeper at the keystone going forward and his name is Otto Lopez.