1 thing Reds infielder Alejo Lopez must do to maintain his roster spot

Alejo Lopez has a terrific night at the plate for the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. In the Reds 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Lopez went 3-for-3 and scored a run on Austin Romine's two-run home run.

Lopez has played sparingly this season, but always seems to produce when he's the plate. While not an overly athletic defender, Lopez is quite capable of fielding both second and third base. He also saw time at shortstop while playing for the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

But does Lopez have a future on the Cincinnati Reds? His defensive versatility and an OPS of .727 this season would suggest the answer is yes. But there's one area that Lopez needs to improve upon in order to solidify his spot going forward.

Reds infielder Alejo Lopez needs to hit for more power if he hopes to keep his roster spot.

Alejo Lopez has proven that he can hit for average. The 26-year-old is slashing .310/.370/.357 in his limited at-bats this season. But the one thing that Lopez needs to add his repertoire is hitting for power.

Now I'm not talking about home runs. Not every major leaguer needs to smack 20-plus homers in a season in order to be successful. But Lopez does need to rack up some more extra-base hits. Of his 26 hits this season, only four have gone for extra bases and none have left the yard.

Lopez recorded 41 hits in 46 games for the Louisville Bats this season with nearly 27% of his hits going for extra bases. Lopez had eight doubles and three home runs in 182 at-bats for Triple-A Louisville. But only 15.3% of Lopez's hits in the major leagues this year have gone for extra bases.

If Alejo Lopez can model his game after Donovan Solano, who has watched 15 of his 61 (24.6%) hits go for extra bases in 2022, then he'll be well on his way to securing a spot with the Cincinnati Reds heading into next season. Lopez is skilled hitter who just need to squeeze some more extra bases out of his at-bats over the remainder of the season.