Javier "Javy" López Torres (born November 5, 1970) is a Puerto Rican former

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

(1992–2003),

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

(2004–2006) and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(2006). He batted and threw right-handed. He was named Ponce, Puerto Rico's Athlete of the Year from 1984 to 1987.

Professional career

Atlanta Braves

López (birth name: Javier López Torres ) was signed by the Atlanta Braves in 1987 as an amateur

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, López made his debut on September 18, 1992, against the Houston Astros. After sharing duties with Charlie O'Brien and Eddie Pérez for four seasons, he established himself as the Braves' regular catcher in 1996. The same season, he led the Braves to win the

National League Championship Series The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the winners of the two Nation ...

, earning the series Most Valuable Player honors. He also made the National League All-Star team from 1997–98. Lopez had his best season in 2003 with a .328

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 43 home runs and 109 RBI in 129 games, including a .378 on-base percentage and a .687 slugging percentage. In that season he broke Todd Hundley's record for most home runs hit in a season by a catcher (41) and was selected to the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

, winning the

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. These voters co ...

and finishing fifth in the

National League MVP The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' ...

ballot. While with the Braves, López caught

Kent Mercker Kent Franklin Mercker (born February 1, 1968) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played for nine teams over his 17-year career. Career Mercker was born in Brownsburg, Indiana and lived in several different citi ...

's no-hitter on April 8, 1994.

Baltimore Orioles

Before the 2004 season López signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles. He hit .316 with 86 RBI, and the following season hit .278 with 49 RBI, while seeing a decline in his game time from 150 to 103 games.

Boston Red Sox

In the 2006 midseason he was acquired by the Boston Red Sox from Baltimore in exchange for minor league

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Adam Stern and cash consideration. López debuted with Boston on the same day after

Doug Mirabelli Douglas Anthony Mirabelli (born October 18, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000), Texas Rangers (2001), Boston Red Sox (2001–2005), and San Diego Padres (2006) before returning to ...

left the game early after an ankle injury. On September 8, the Red Sox released López due to

Jason Varitek Jason Andrew Varitek (; born April 11, 1972), nicknamed Tek, is an American professional baseball coach and former catcher. He is currently the game planning coordinator, a uniformed coaching position, for the Boston Red Sox. After being traded ...

returning from the disabled list, which minimized his playing time.

Retirement

In January 2007, it was reported that López reached a preliminary agreement on a $750,000, one-year contract with the Colorado Rockies, but he did not play for them during the regular season. Before the 2008 season he signed a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training with the Atlanta Braves, in an attempt to return to the majors. But after being told he would not make the opening day lineup, López retired for good. "I feel perfect physically", he said. "It's just that the hitting wasn't there and unfortunately I didn't throw the guy out on the stealing attempts. That's a concern. I don't blame them. My role as a backup catcher is to be able to throw every single runner out." He plans to continue in the Atlanta Braves organization performing other duties. In a 15-season career, López posted a .287 average with 260 home runs and 864 RBI in 1,503 games. His 243 home runs as a catcher ranks eighth on the career list at that position. Strong defensively, he recorded a .992 fielding percentage. In 60 postseason games, he batted .278 (57-for-205) with 27 runs, 14 doubles, 10 home runs, 28 RBI and 14 walks. His final game was on September 2, 2006.

Personal

López married Analy Hernández. They had two children: Javier Alexander (born 11/6/95) and Kelvin Gabriel (born 10/17/99). They divorced and López married his second wife Gina Brodbeck on June 23, 2004, and they have had two sons, Brody Brodbeck Lopez, born in 2010 and Gavin Richard Lopez in 2013.

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Javy 1970 births Living people National League Championship Series MVPs National League All-Stars Atlanta Braves players Baltimore Orioles players Boston Red Sox players Major League Baseball catchers Gulf Coast Braves players Greenville Braves players Richmond Braves players Senadores de San Juan players Baseball players from Atlanta Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico 2006 World Baseball Classic players Sportspeople from Ponce, Puerto Rico Silver Slugger Award winners