The last couple of weeks we’ve looked at a couple of hitters who have been repeatedly getting robbed of base hits in the early part of the season. But what about from the other side of things?
Which hitter is the biggest beneficiary of bad defensive performance so far in 2026?
There’s a runaway leader at this. It’s Otto Lopez of the Marlins.
Lopez has been known primarily as a good glove, good speed shortstop with below-average offense numbers, at least until this season.
MLB defenses have a combined -13 Runs Saved against his batted balls, the worst total in MLB.
Fewest Defensive Runs Saved Against A Player’s Batted Balls – 2026 Season
| Player | Team | DRS Against |
| Otto Lopez | Marlins | -13 |
| Mauricio Dubon | Braves | -7 |
| Trevor Larnach | Twins | -7 |
| Garrett Mitchell | Brewers | -7 |
| Bobby Witt | Royals | -6 |
This isn’t entirely unusual for him. Fielders had -7 Runs Saved against him in 2024 but then had 5 in 2025.
Most of the self-inflicted damage done by the defense has come on Lopez’s ground balls.
This was scored a hit, even though it’s a complete brainlock by Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm on what should have been a routine play (a 98% out probability).
Lopez has an MLB-high 9 infield hits this season and 61 over the last three seasons. Give him credit. He regularly hustles out of the batter’s box and has good speed. But that shouldn’t be one of those infield hits.
In our world, it’s a Defensive Misplay. And Lopez has been the beneficiary of a lot of these, an MLB-high 68 in the last three seasons.
Most Batted Balls With Defensive Misplay Or Error – Since 2024
| Player | Misplays Or Errors Against |
| Otto Lopez | 68 |
| Trea Turner | 58 |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | 53 |
| Yainer Diaz | 52 |
| Dansby Swanson | 51 |
Here’s another infield hit against the Phillies, the team with the worst Runs Saved for any team in MLB. Lopez got a good sprint out of the batter’s box and Trea Turner didn’t even make a throw. By our out probabilities, once Turner fielded the ball he had a 98% chance of getting the out. It didn’t happen.
Here’s another. The Marlins broadcasters proclaimed this chopper a hit instantly, but if you watch it, White Sox pitcher Sean Newcomb had a reasonable chance to make the play if he fielded the ball cleanly.
Lopez’s .333 batting average is bumped up a bit by some of these plays that weren’t made, but there have been some plays scored errors too.
This wasn’t a hit. It should have been a double play without much issue, but for a pitcher throwaway.
And here’s two other throwaways for errors by shortstops Kevin McGonigle and Masyn Winn.
There’s one other factor at work here. Our data shows that teams aren’t putting themselves in the best position to turn Lopez’s balls into outs.
For example, Braves broadcaster Brandon Gaudin articulates it well on this play below. Shortstop Mauricio Dubon was positioned more up the middle. We’re sure the Braves had reason for playing Dubon there, but if he’s back at a ‘normal’ shortstop position for a right-handed batter in that situation, it’s probably a makeable play.
Our calculation was that this ball had a 0% out probability for Dubon given where he was but a 68% out probability if we take Dubon’s positioning out of the mix. The Braves get penalized for the reduction in out probability from 68% to 0% and it impacts their Runs Saved.
And there have been a smaller number of plays like this one. Sometimes you can have a guy well positioned but he just doesn’t make the play. We’ve focused mostly on ground balls, but here’s a fly ball to left field that Kerry Carpenter is lined up well for but doesn’t read well and he can’t make the catch.
Plays like that one account for a small piece of the damage. The main issue is that teams have -4 Positioning Runs Saved and -6 Throwing Runs Saved against Lopez (in this case, ‘throwing’ is anything that happens after a player fields the ball, meaning no throws, bad throws, or balls rolling away). Both of those are the worst against any player in MLB this season.
I don’t want to discount Lopez’s hot start as all luck- (and speed-) based. His hard-hit rate is considerably higher than it’s been at any point in his career and that means something too. Perhaps the best acknowledgement we can make here is that Lopez is now a pest at bat, on the bases, and in the field. And that’s a good quality to be.
