One of the most improved players in the MLB last season came from the Kansas City Royals. Nicky Lopez went from a player who couldn’t make the opening day roster without an injury, to one of the best contact-hitting and fielding shortstops in all of baseball.
In 2021, Nicky slashed .300/.365/.378 with a .744 OPS while stealing 22 bases and playing elite defense at one of the sport’s hardest positions. The fault of Nicky’s game, however (especially in this time of analytics) is that he is easily one of the worst power hitters in the league. While he did have 29 extra-base hits in his 565 plate appearances, only two of them were home runs.