Yoan López

Yoan Lopez
(El Asere)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 185 lb.

• Debut September 9, 2018

• Born January 2, 1993 in Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud Cuba

BR page

Biographical Information

Yoan López was 15-13 with a 3.76 ERA in three seasons for Isla de la Juventud before defecting from Cuba. Despite mediocre numbers in Cuba, he was signed for $8.27 million by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015, a record for an international signee. He made it to the majors three years later and was lit up for 3 runs (2 homers) in 1/3 of an inning over his first two outings in September of 2018. He spent a full season with Arizona in 2019, going 2-7, 3.41 with 1 save in 70 games, all in relief. He also appeared in the majors with the D-Backs in both 2020 and 2021, but with progressively higher ERAs of 5.95 in 20 games the first year, and 6.57 in 13 games the second. He then moved around a lot in the 2021-2022 off-season, being successively claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets, the latter at the very end of spring training on March 29th.

He was up with the Mets early in the 2022 season, pitching twice in relief. In his final outing, on May 1st against the Phillies, he threw a pitch at Kyle Schwarber in what was part of a war of words and brushback pitches between the two teams. He was sent to AAA the next day when rosters had to be trimmed from 28 to 26 players, but immediately afterwards, he was handed a three-game suspension for his action in his last game. That created a quandary for the Mets, since it meant that he would need to serve his suspension whenever he was recalled to the big league team. However, his role on the team was to be available for a call-up to help out whenever the bullpen got too tired, and the need to first serve the suspension nullified this, making it more likely he would spend most of the season in AAA. As Mets manager Buck Showalter, who was also suspended for the incident, put it: "How can you call someone up who can’t pitch?" The Mets eventually bit the bullet and called him up in mid-June, let his serve his sentence, and then used him in a couple of games before sending him down. They were then able to call him up twice more, in mid and late July, and he ended up pitching in 8 major league games for the season, with a record of 1-0, 5.73 in 11 innings. He spent the rest of the season in AAA with the Syracuse Mets, going 2-2, 5.14 with 2 saves in 29 games.

Further Reading

• Nick Piecoro: "Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Yoan Lopez's tattoos personify family, journey to MLB", "AZ Central", Arizona Republic, April 30, 2019. [1]

Related Sites

• Yoan Lopez on mlb.com