By Francis Ferry, NLN baseball writer

January 10, 2015: Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico – When the season concludes and winter wraps itself around our nation, many ballplayers retire to their homes and celebrate the holidays. Others spend their winters in Florida or Arizona playing golf and relaxing as they anticipate the start of spring training. Not Aurora rookie sensation Orlando “El Bebé” López. Instead of hanging ornaments on a tree or swinging a 5-iron, the Borealis infielder is reaching out to the past and honoring his heritage by giving back to his people.

Down at the far tip of Mexico in the state of Veracruz is the city of Coatzacoalcos, sitting at the mouth of the river from which it gets its name. Like many cities in Mexico, it is a perplexing mixture of urban and rural that helps feed the large oil industry in the region. Historically, this is Olmec country, and that is what brought López to Coatzacoalcos and the Veracruz region.

“My grandmother, who is 95, has always talked about her grandmother, who would talk about her grandmother and the Olmec way. Stories passed down from generation to generation,” López said in a phone interview. “The cooking, how homes were built, the religion. It was all so interesting, and for a boy growing up in Ohio, so foreign. I decided early on that one day I would travel there and see the land of my ancestors.”

The Olmec people lived in this southern region for approximately 500 years – from 900 to 400 BC. It’s believed that small pockets survived well into the 19^th century, and it is from this small band of people that Orlando López’s family may be descended. “When I arrived here I would see crowds of kids playing soccer or baseball. It felt so natural to join in and coach these kids. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past three weeks – coaching kids during the week and taking my jeep into the jungle, exploring ruins on the weekend.”

López, who was drafted in the 2^nd round (#41 overall) of the 2011 draft out of Arizona State, has long credited his family’s support in his early years of baseball. “I’d be out there at Little League practice or games and the whole family would be there. My grandmother, in particular, would be very vocal – yelling at me to swing at anything. So I started using a bigger bat; you know, a longer bat to reach all those pitches. I was a big kid.” You could hear the smile on his face through the phone. “She began cheering, ‘Vamos, El Bebé, vamos.’ After a while, I asked her what she meant by that. She told me that there was an ancient Olmec relic, a hammer-like structure, called El Bebé – I saw it in a museum once – and that her grandmother would say I swung like I was swinging El Bebé.” He chuckled at the thought. “I think she thought I was hacking at every pitch. Pretty soon, everyone was calling me that. It was annoying at first, but as I began to pay attention to the stories she told me and researching the Olmecs myself, I began to like the nickname. By the time I got to ASU, I was lovin’ it! I was ‘El Bebé.”

And the Borealis are lovin’ the free-swinging infielder. López was promoted from Thornton on the 21^st of June last season. In 86 games, he hit .316 with a SLG of .459, built on 27 2B, 4 3B and 4 HR. López’s time in Aurora was so consistent that he moved from DH to 3B, displacing a horribly slumping Mark Richardson by season’s end. In 34 games at 3B, he had but one error. A NAFTA and GBB All-Star, López was named Rookie of the Month for July, when he hit .346.

The future is bright for “El Bebé”. The lone question is if that future will be in Aurora or with another club. “I graduated from college. I can do the math,” López answered when asked about the logjam of talent in the infield. “I also know the guys below me. Foster, Watson… me, we were all drafted together. They are really good players. All I know is that when I play, I go up there and swing like I’m swinging El Bebé.”

Spoken like a true Olmec.