LI's Logan O'Hoppe is just living the dream
The Phillies' Logan O'Hoppe walks on the field after a spring training game against the Blue Jays on March 2, 2021, in Dunedin, Fla. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
LOS ANGELES — Logan O’Hoppe, a 23rd-round draft pick out of West Islip and a star at St. John the Baptist, was a few hours away from the first pitch of Saturday’s Futures Game when he summed up the situation perfectly.
“It’s been a dream come true so far,” O’Hoppe said.
Based on the year he’s had, both on and off the field, O’Hoppe probably feels that way quite a bit. In December, his father, Michael, was pronounced cancer-free after battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This season, O’Hoppe cracked MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospect list, surging to No. 88 after crushing it at Double-A Reading, where he has a slash line of .283/.401/.522 and nearly as many RBIs (40) as strikeouts (45) in 66 games.
Then O’Hoppe — the Phillies’ No. 3 prospect — got an invite to the Futures Game, which just happens to be at Dodger Stadium, where his twin sister, Melanie, always wanted to go. Check another box, and the whole family was in attendance Saturday as O’Hoppe continued to live the dream.
“It’s been great,” said O’Hoppe, who grounded out in his only at-bat. “More than I could have even expected. This is a little bit different than Reading. But it’s a break I’m really grateful to have and I’ve been trying to soak up every second of it.”
Martian moonshot
Jasson Dominguez, aka The Martian, had an otherworldly experience Saturday at Chavez Ravine. Shortly after the Yankees announced his promotion to High-A Hudson Valley, Dominguez — starting in centerfield for the AL squad — whiffed in his first at-bat and flat-out dropped a long fly ball for a two-run error in the second inning.
It didn’t take long for him to make up for his blunder, however. In the third, he crushed a 3-and-1 sinker from Giants No. 2 prospect Kyle Harrison, launching it over the centerfield wall for a two-run homer.
His thoughts as he watched the ball’s flight? “My mind was saying, everybody forget the error,” Dominguez said, smiling.
Afterward, he brought his bat (affixed with Martian logos) around to each locker to have his AL teammates sign it. This already was his second Futures Game, but “you don’t know if this is your last time here,” he said.
Minor things
Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ next franchise shortstop, batted cleanup Saturday for the AL squad — something that Derek Jeter did only twice in 2,747 games in his 20-year career. He went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts . . . Ken Waldichuk came in for the final out, retiring Brewers prospect Jackson Chourio on a fly ball in a 6-4 AL win.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
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