Mexico City's Anastasio Lopez
The 2038 season has been a productive one for the Aztecs all around, despite letting two key cogs from 2037 in OF Willard Gagne and Mike Ellis walk after non-tendering their arbitration. Ellis and Gagne's roster spots have been occupied by Dan Flores and Ricardo Pena, with Flores carrying his weight both offensively and defensively in CF and Pena decidedly not. Pena, currently carrying a .276/.276/.414, a -0.5 ZR in RF, and a -0.8 WAR, has struggled to adjust to the big league game despite Aztec GM Fred Holmes' continued faith in him, leaving baseball people around the league wondering why the team had not called up 20 year old OF Anastasio Lopez to take Pena's spot. Lopez had been raking in AAA, posting a 4.2 WAR through 91 games, and seemed more than ready to step into a big league lineup. Why was Lopez still at AAA as Pena struggled and dealt with a nagging knee issue? Surely in the dogfight that the SunBelt is turning out to be, every game, every run, every at-bat would prove critical by the time September rolls around, why would the team allow Lopez to be bored in Los Cabos while Pena continued to be an anchor to the Aztec lineup?
The talking heads finally got their way on July 22nd, as Lopez was activated and placed in a platoon starting in LF. He responded in a big way, by blasting the first pitch he saw in his second at bat over the wall for a 2 run homer. Lopez would add a single in the 6th to finish the game 2 for 3 with pair of RBI.
"It was like a dream," said Lopez after the game, "I couldn't have written it better if I had tried. To make a debut at home, in the vaunted Mexico City rain, and do that was amazing."
The game was delayed for almost an hour before the Aztecs came up to bat in the 4th, putting Lopez and the rest of the Aztec order on ice for an hour but the 20 year old was not deterred.
"I was talking to some of the guys about my approach, just trying to stay loose while we were waiting. It was just nerves, nerves, nerves sitting there thinking about coming up again."
Lopez, if he plays well, will have a legitimate shot to make his spot on the BBA roster stick considering Pena's struggles. The challenge will be to keep his glove from weighing his numbers down.
"Great first game for the kid," said Aztec manager Jorge Acevedo, "but he's got alot of work to do once he comes down from the clouds today. We're gonna need him to hold off Vegas, Phoenix, and San Antonio."
