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 catc ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

(1992–2003),

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

(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) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

(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 was signed by the Atlanta Braves in 1987 as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

, López made his debut on September 18, 1992, against the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. 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, earning the series

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

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, 43 home runs and 109 RBI in 129 games, including a .378

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

and a .687

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. 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 showcases 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 division, bu ...

, winning the

Silver Slugger Award The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best Batting (baseball), offensive player at each Baseball positions, position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (baseball), National League (NL), as determ ...

and finishing fifth in the National League MVP ballot. While with the Braves, López caught Kent Mercker's

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

on April 8, 1994. While López starred for the Braves, he very rarely caught future

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

pitcher Greg Maddux, who was not comfortable pitching to him. Instead the Braves' backup catcher, which varied over the years, would become Maddux's personal catcher.

Baltimore Orioles

Before the 2004 season, López signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles. He hit .316 with 23 HR and 86 RBI, the following year López suffered a broken hand on a foul tip, ending the year with a .278 with 15 HR and 49 RBI while seeing a decline in his game time from 150 to 103 games.

Boston Red Sox

In the 2006 midseason, López was acquired by the

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 catch ...

Adam Stern and cash considerations. López debuted with Boston on the same day after Doug Mirabelli left the game early after an ankle injury. On September 8, the Red Sox released López due to Jason Varitek returning from the disabled list, which minimized playing time for López.

Retirement

In January 2007, it was reported that López reached a preliminary agreement on a $750,000, one-year contract with the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

, 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 Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

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 couldn’t throw anybody out on stealing attempts. That's a concern. I don't blame them. My role as a backup catcher is to be able to throw runners 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 baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

. 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 life

López's first marriage was to Analy Hernández. They have two children: Javier Alexander (born November 6, 1995) and Kelvin Gabriel (born October 17, 1999). The marriage ended in divorce. López married his second wife, Gina Brodbeck, on June 23, 2004. They have two sons: Brody Brodbeck Lopez, born in 2010, and Gavin Richard Lopez, born in 2013.

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 Baseball players from Ponce, Puerto Rico Silver Slugger Award winners