Pedro Lopez named new 51s manager

After five years at the helm of Double-A Binghamton, Pedro Lopez is moving up in the Mets organization, taking over as the manager of the Las Vegas 51s for Wally Backman, who resigned in September.

Lopez has been in the Mets minor league system for the past nine seasons and has a minor league managerial record of 809-740 (.522) over 15 years. He will be joined by pitching coach Frank Viola, hitting coach Jack Voigt, trainer Deb Iwanow and a strength coach who has yet to be announced.

“I’m really glad that I’m going there. I’m really honored,” Lopez said. “I know there’s a lot of people that are probably more qualified than I am but I’m really glad that they gave me this opportunity and I think the fans are going to enjoy what we have out there on the field.”

During his time in Binghamton, Lopez went 377-329 (.534) with the B-Mets, leading them to one first-place finish, two second and two fifth.

He was named the Eastern League Manager of the Year in in 2013 a year before leading the B-Mets to an Eastern League title.

Lopez described his managerial style as aggressive and said he liked to try to push the button. He also said he liked to give his players the opportunity to play without thinking they’d be second-guessed.

“My job is to create a good environment so they can come in and work without feeling that pressure that’s already there because playing baseball, it’s ha rd,” Lopez said. “You wake up every morning, feel ready, there’s a really good chance you’re going to go 0-for-4 so my job is to make sure I create and keep that good environment that they can come in and go 0-for-4 but it’s okay, it’s all about the process.”

Lopez said he was most looking forward to the chance to reconnect with some of the players he’s managed in the past.

That could include the Mets two top prospects per Baseball America, Amed Rosario, a shortstop, and Dominic Smith, a first baseman, who should make their Triple-A debuts during the 2017 season. Lopez managed both in Binghamton last year.

“Those guys, the one thing they do is that they push each other to become better players, so I think that if they do start with us in Vegas, it’s going to be really exciting for the fans to look at those young men and if they don’t, I think it’ll be shortly before we get them,” Lopez said.

The 51s should return a solid team, as six of the Mets’ top 10 prospects — Rosario, Smith, Brandon Nimmo, Gavin Cecchini, Robert Gsellman and Gabriel Ynoa — will likely appear in Las Vegas during some point in the season to play for Lopez.

This won’t be Lopez’s first time in the Las Vegas organization, as he played for the Las Vegas Stars in 1994 during his 13-year minor league playing career.

“For somebody like me coming from Puerto Rico and then going to a place like that, it was like my first time in New York. I was just looking everywhere, looking at the lights and going crazy like a little kid,” Lopez said. “I’m just looking forward to go back and see if I can find that same apartment that I lived in when I was there in 1994.”

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.