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Pirates Prospects Daily: Can Dariel Lopez Be An Exception To The Greensboro Effect?

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have been very aggressive with some of their younger prospects, with several teenagers getting pushed to Bradenton over the past couple of seasons.

One player who has responded each year with an aggressive placement has been Dariel Lopez. Just 19 when he played for Bradenton, he became a key part of their lineup in the division championship run in 2021. 

Lopez played the entire 2022 season in Greensboro, thoroughly taking advantage of the hitter’s haven that is First National Bank Field.

A late season injury kept Lopez out of the lineup just long enough to finish one home run short of 20, nearly doubling his total from 2021 in Bradenton.

There is always a moment of hesitation when looking at a player’s offensive output when they play for Greensboro, especially when their home/road splits look the way they do for Lopez.

Lopez posted a .915 OPS (15 HR) at home, while just .692 (4 HR) on the road — a pretty stark contrast from each other that would usually leave some room for concern as he potentially heads to Altoona.

There is some hope that Lopez doesn’t become another that falls into the trap of giving false hope over his numbers in Greensboro. The obvious hope is he flashed a good amount of power in Bradenton, especially going the other way. He hit to the opposite field nearly 40% of the time while with the Marauders.

Anthony Murphy
Anthony Murphy
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.

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