Upstart Lopez receives Silver Slugger

[WildcatRick]

CINCINNATI -- If Felipe Lopez's mission as the Reds' shortstop was to follow in the footsteps of Barry Larkin, he's certainly off to a good start.

Lopez was named a winner of Louisville Slugger's National League Silver Slugger Award on Monday for offensive excellence at his position. He is the first Reds player to win the award since Larkin himself did so in 1999.

Lopez's breakout 2005 season -- in which he became an NL All-Star, hit .291 and became only the third shortstop in team history with at least 20 home runs (23) and 80 RBIs (85) in the same year -- came despite the fact that he wasn't the team's regular starter at the position until early May.

In fact, Lopez came into Spring Training in '05 without a guaranteed spot on the big-league roster. He was, at that point, a wayward prospect who had yet to prove himself in the Majors.

But he was confident.

"I knew, one day, I'd break through and figure it out," Lopez said earlier this year.





American League
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/images/trans.gif
National League

1B - Mark Teixeira (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262716&vkey=n ews_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex), TEX
2B - Alfonso Soriano (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262716&vkey=n ews_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex), TEX
3B - Alex Rodriguez (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262620&vkey=n ews_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy), NYY
SS - Miguel Tejada (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262652&vkey=n ews_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal), BAL
OF - Vladimir Guerrero (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262872&vkey=n ews_ana&fext=.jsp&c_id=ana), LAA
OF - Manny Ramirez (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262689&vkey=n ews_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos), BOS
OF - Gary Sheffield (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262620&vkey=n ews_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy), NYY
C - Jason Varitek (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262689&vkey=n ews_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos), BOS
DH - David Ortiz (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262689&vkey=n ews_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos), BOS

1B - Derrek Lee (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262731&vkey=n ews_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc), CHC
2B - Jeff Kent (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262817&vkey=n ews_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la), LAD
3B - Morgan Ensberg (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262584&vkey=n ews_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou), HOU
SS - Felipe Lopez (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262787&vkey=n ews_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin), CIN
OF - Andruw Jones (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262742&vkey=n ews_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl), ATL
OF - Miguel Cabrera (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262775&vkey=n ews_fla&fext=.jsp&c_id=fla), FLA
OF - Carlos Lee (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262707&vkey=n ews_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil), MIL
C - Michael Barrett (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262731&vkey=n ews_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc), CHC
P - Jason Marquis (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262638&vkey=n ews_stl&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl), STL

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051031&content_id=1262787&vkey=n ews_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

[cumberlandredskin]

If the Reds could just get some silver arms to go with Lopez and the rest of their sluggers they would be OK.

Lopez is just continuing a long line of great shortstops for the Reds. You can trace them from Larkin to Concepcion to Leo Cardenas to Roy McMillan. A fine lineage indeed!:)