{"id":116520,"date":"2026-03-25T01:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=116520"},"modified":"2026-03-25T01:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T05:02:09","slug":"omar-lopez-journey-wbc-winning-manager-began-with-astros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/25\/omar-lopez-journey-wbc-winning-manager-began-with-astros\/","title":{"rendered":"How Omar L\u00f3pez\u2019s Journey to WBC Winning Manager Began With the Astros"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While the MLB season is about to start with Opening Day on the doorstep, the World Baseball Classic was the story of the game earlier in March. The WBC always shows the incredible passion of baseball fans around the globe, and that couldn\u2019t be demonstrated further when Venezuela lifted the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/10\/why-the-world-baseball-classic-is-great-for-baseball-and-what-kike-hernandez-really-means\/\" target=\"_self\">World Baseball Classic<\/a> trophy for the first time in the country\u2019s history.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBZ4M4yQvC\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 2000px; aspect-ratio: 2000\/1282;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h2>How Omar L\u00f3pez\u2019s Journey to WBC-Winning Manager Began With the Astros<\/h2>\n<p>Baseball is an integral part of Venezuela\u2019s culture, and the meaning of this championship is special on another level for their fans and a country that worships the sport. The Houston Astros have multiple connections to Venezuelan baseball. <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/altuvjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose Altuve<\/a> is obviously the known one, but a member of the Astros staff played a vital role in Venezuela winning its first World Baseball Classic.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That is Astros bench coach <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/astros\/team\/front-office\/omar-lopez\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omar L\u00f3pez<\/a>, who was the manager of Team Venezuela. It\u2019s been a long road to the top for L\u00f3pez, who gets his shining moment as Venezuela\u2019s skipper.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cA dream come true,\u201d Omar L\u00f3pez said. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9ZBXif9RaD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9ZBXif9RaD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chandler_Rome\/status\/2034706756324970876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Omar L\u00f3pez\u2019s Astros Role<\/h2>\n<p>This upcoming season will be L\u00f3pez\u2019s 28th year in the Astros organization. He joined the major league staff as the Astros first base coach in Dec. 2019 for the start of the 2020 season and was in that position till 2023. <span>Once <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/espadjo99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Espada<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/10\/09\/astros-keep-on-manager-joe-espada-gm-dana-brown\/\" target=\"_self\">became Astros manager<\/a>\u00a0in Dec. 2023, L\u00f3pez was promoted to bench coach and took Espada&#8217;s former role.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Joe Espada said he was proud of Omar L\u00f3pez: &#8220;Just seeing the final outcome and watching him celebrate, I said, &#8216;Listen, I don\u2019t want to see you here today. You take the day, you celebrate with your family and that team,&#8217; because he truly deserves that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brianmctaggart\/status\/2034271691874955722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Venezuela\u2019s Manager<\/h2>\n<p>L\u00f3pez played a role for Venezuela in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but got his opportunity as the manager in 2023. He\u2019s led the country to some of its best finishes in the tournament. L\u00f3pez had the Venezuelans in position to head to the 2023 semifinals with a 7-5 lead in the eighth inning over the USA in the quarterfinals, but <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/turnetr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trea Turner<\/a>\u2019s grand slam ended their hopes in crushing fashion.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Venezuela got its revenge this time around with L\u00f3pez masterfully leading them to a 3-2 win. The path this year was as hard as it could get, with a quarterfinal comeback upset 8-5 over mighty Japan. Venezuela had no days of rest heading into the final against the USA, but were able to overcome that in a game that will forever be remembered in the country\u2019s history.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>His Experience<\/h2>\n<p>L\u00f3pez\u2019s success as a manager on a stage such as the WBC sets him up well as a potential MLB manager down the road. The experience and success speak for themselves. He managed Double-A Corpus Christi for two seasons from 2018 to 2019 and was named Texas League Manager of the Year in his first season for leading the Hooks to an 82-56 record.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jose Altuve on Omar L\u00f3pez before yesterday\u2019s WBC final: \u201cThe only thing I can say about him is it\u2019s a matter of time that he\u2019ll be a manager in the big leagues. We all know he knows the game, he knows how to manage. He deserves a job in the big leagues. He\u2019s that good.\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8E5kCUjn4K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/8E5kCUjn4K<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewkawahara\/status\/2034321668642885805?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez has been almost everywhere you can go within the Astros system over the years. He led Quad Cities to a Midwest League Championship in 2013 with a squad that featured two current Astros players, <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/correca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Correa<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/27\/what-lies-ahead-astros-veteran-pitcher-lance-mccullers-jr\/\" target=\"_self\">Lance McCullers Jr.<\/a> L\u00f3pez was also named Manager of the Year in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League back in 2014-15 and also led them to a championship in his first year. At 38 years old, he was the youngest manager in the league.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>L\u00f3pez Found Altuve<\/h2>\n<p>His connection to Altuve remains an all-important story for the direction that the Astros would take under what became their greatest player in franchise history. L\u00f3pez was a hitting and infield instructor in the Astros Venezuelan program as well as a full-time scout from 1999 to 2007. He was one of the scouts who saw Altuve as a young 16-year-old.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>L\u00f3pez broke down the story on MLB Network after winning the WBC. He was at a Little League national tournament in Venezuela, three hours away, when his boss called him over to watch a shortstop. When L\u00f3pez went to Maracay, he noticed a small Altuve hitting doubles and running all over the place.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You can thank Omar Lopez and Al Pedrique for being the ones to find Jose Altuve and help bring him to Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Forever grateful. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IeTah02EF7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/IeTah02EF7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelschwab13\/status\/2034089703020896599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The viewing area of the field was high up, and it made Altuve look even smaller.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was like, where is this guy from?\u201d L\u00f3pez recalled. He waited after the game to see how tall he was. L\u00f3pez stayed the night and watched the same team the next day with Altuve on it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>A Small Signing Turned Historic<\/h2>\n<p><a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pedrial01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-03-25_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Al Pedrique<\/a> was the development coach at the time and was running the scouting. The scouts typically see players in a completely different light than everyone else. L\u00f3pez called him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got this guy, I think we should invite him to our academy, but I\u2019m telling you he\u2019s little,\u201d L\u00f3pez said over the phone. Pedrique asked if he had the ability to play, and L\u00f3pez said yes. The ability was the only thing Pedrique was looking for. Altuve demonstrated his potential, and the rest is history. The Astros signed him as an undrafted amateur free agent in 2007 for just $15,000.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Pedrique convinced the Astros to take a chance on the five-foot-five infielder, but L\u00f3pez was the one who originally spotted him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Astros&#8217; bench coach played three seasons of minor league baseball from 1996 to 1998 and has turned into one of the more important members of the coaching staff in Houston. Besides L\u00f3pez, bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte was also part of Venezuela\u2019s WBC-winning team. The Astros\u2019 connections with Venezuela run deep.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> It was fitting that Altuve was at the WBC to enjoy this moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You can thank Omar Lopez and Al Pedrique for being the ones to find Jose Altuve and help bring him to Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Forever grateful. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IeTah02EF7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/IeTah02EF7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/michaelschwab13\/status\/2034089703020896599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Bob Levey\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the MLB season is about to start with Opening Day on the doorstep, the World Baseball Classic was the story of the game earlier in March. The WBC always shows the incredible passion of baseball fans around the globe, and that couldn\u2019t be demonstrated further when Venezuela lifted the World Baseball Classic trophy for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5612,"featured_media":54743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1071,35],"tags":[716,3912,300,976],"class_list":["post-116520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astros","category-mlb","category-news","tag-carlos-correa","tag-lance-mccullers-jr","tag-trea-turner","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116520"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116536,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116520\/revisions\/116536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}