How Nicky Lopez is handling Adalberto Mondesi’s expected return to Kansas City Royals

Kansas City Royals infielder Nicky Lopez has already experienced nearly a season’s worth of twists and turns in less than two months, and another shift awaits on the horizon.

Lopez, a former fifth-round pick out of Creighton and a native of Naperville, Illinois, heads into this weekend’s series against the Chicago White Sox in his backyard as the Royals everyday shortstop. Lopez has held that position since the start of the season in the aftermath of Adalberto Mondesi beginning the year on the injured list with a right oblique strain.

Now, Mondesi nears a return to the active roster. He began a rehab assignment with Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Thursday night. The final hurdle will be for the switch hitter to bat from the left side. In an interview with The Star in Arkansas, General manager Dayton Moore expressed optimism Mondesi could be ready to join the team by May 21.

It remains to be seen if Mondesi’s return will simply push Lopez back to second base, where he’d been a Gold Glove finalist last season, and Whit Merrifield to the outfield on a more regular basis — or if the Royals would move Lopez into more of a platoon role or something else.

“Obviously, we can’t wait to have him back because he’s just going to make our lineup that much deeper,” Lopez said of Mondesi. “But, personally, what it means for me — I can’t really think about that. I’m just going to think about each and every day I get the opportunity to play. When he comes back, we’ll see what happens, what they want me to do.”

The left-handed hitting Lopez, 26, went into Friday’s doubleheader with a four game hitting streak after snapping out of a recent 0-for-17 funk on Sunday. Tuesday night in Detroit, he recorded his first multi-hit game since April 20.

He also had two hits and a run scored in Thursday’s loss to the Tigers. He has gone 6 for 12 with four runs scored in his last four games entering Friday. For the season, Lopez was batting .237 with a .342 on-base percentage.

His three triples were tied for the American League lead entering Friday, and he led all major-league position players in sacrifices (four). He has walked 16 times in 35 games this season after having walked 18 times in 56 games in 2020 and 18 times in 103 games in 2019.

Until Mondesi’s injury, Lopez had been ticketed to begin the season in the minors after struggling at the plate throughout spring training. Since his MLB debut, he had not shown the same high-contact, high on-base offensive performance he had throughout the minors.

In a span of a week, he went from being sent down to the minor-league camp and putting together a plan with the player development staff to address his regression at the plate to being abruptly recalled to the majors and inserted into the lineup as the everyday shortstop and No. 9 hitter.

“A lot has happened,” Lopez said. “I think that’s a good thing. This is all just a learning process. I bet you Salvy is still learning and he’s a veteran. You know what I mean. So it’s one of those things where I’m just trying to take in as much as I can so it’s going to better me when I get down the road seven, eight, nine, 10 years in the big leagues.”

That big-picture perspective will likely enable Lopez to roll with whatever decision comes next from the Royals upon Mondesi’s return.

“We’re fortunate that we have two players in our everyday lineup in Whit Merrifield and Hunter Dozier that can play multiple positions and are willing to play multiple positions,” Moore said earlier this month when asked about the potential ramifications for Lopez when Mondesi returns. “That’s huge for the team chemistry and for when we have to make decisions like that. But we’ll see where we are.”

Lopez still insists his brief demotion to the minors served as a blessing in disguise because it allowed him to “refocus” as well as develop a routine and gain a better grasp on the type of offensive player he needs to be in order to contribute in the majors.

“Nicky Lopez has done a tremendous job,” Moore said. “He has stabilized the interior part of our defense. His at-bats have been really high quality. He has gotten some big hits. He has gotten on base at some crucial times. He’s working the count well. His contact rates are much better. We’re really pleased with Nicky. It just speaks to the winner that he is. So, we’ll make that decision when Mondesi gets back and see where we are.”