‘He’s a beast’: How his father’s cancer battle fueled the Phillies’ Logan O’Hoppe to new heights

The first symptom came on July 10. Michael O’Hoppe woke up early that morning with a swollen lymph node in his right groin. He took every test imaginable to figure out what the problem was — MRIs, CAT scans, X-rays, biopsies — and finally, three weeks later, he got his answer: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

He felt relief when he received his diagnosis. His doctor told him that there was a high survival rate for the kind of cancer he had, but beyond that, he now knew what was going on inside his body, and could start the process of eradicating it as completely and as quickly as possible.

“Game on,” he said.

» READ MORE: Logan O’Hoppe has always been a catcher, and that won’t change with the Phillies

His son, Logan, didn’t feel the same relief. Since high school, he witnessed family members who battled cancer and lost. He was worried, but also knew that if anyone had the mindset to battle this disease, it was Michael O’Hoppe.

Long before Logan became a top catching prospect for the Phillies, his father was preaching positivity, messages that anyone from a T-ball player to a major leaguer would recognize. Take it day by day, he told his son, and above all, never force big things to happen. Trust your work, trust your preparation, and big things will come.

Big things have certainly come. Logan, who was taken in the 23rd round of the 2018 draft, has soared through the Phillies’ minor league system. He began his 2021 season in high-A Jersey Shore, slashing .270/.335/.459 through 85 games. He was then promoted to double-A Reading, where he quickly made a case (.296/.333/.482) to the team for yet another promotion, to triple-A Lehigh Valley.

O’Hoppe finished his season in the Arizona Fall League, playing on the same fields that his father used to take him to when he was an 11-year-old kid. There is a very real chance that the 22-year-old backstop could contribute to the big-league club in 2023, or depending on J.T. Realmuto’s health status, as soon as 2022.

» READ MORE: Phillies prospect rankings: Scouts help project top talent and 2022 outlook

Michael, 59, can think of only one word to describe it — “surreal” — and not just because his son jumped from high A to triple A in one year.

“His success happened during the darkest time of his life,” Michael said. “It’s just remarkable to me that this kid has maintained his focus and improved in every aspect of not just baseball, but in life. In the darkest year of the O’Hoppe family, both my daughter [Melanie] and my son persevered.”

Logan might take issue with this characterization. He sees his father as the one who persevered. Seven months, six chemotherapy treatments, and one stem cell transplant later, Michael was declared cancer-free on Nov. 29, celebrating by ringing a bell in Sloan Kettering’s cancer ward while wearing a Phillies “Ring the Bell” T-shirt. And he did it without letting the disease define him. He kept working his job as a pharmaceutical rep, and kept watching every moment of his son’s meteoric rise.

The first few days were difficult for Logan. His anxiety about his father bled onto the field. But as time passed, he began to view baseball as an escape, something for him focus on to stop the cycle of worry. When he did think about his father’s battle, he chose to learn from it. When faced with a life-or-death situation, Michael refused to cower. He embraced the challenge and said, “Game on.” Logan decided he would do the same.

He received the news of his father’s cancer diagnosis in early August. Ten games later, he was in double A, and 13 games after that, in triple A. Every promotion gave his father another jolt of energy, another reason to keep going. And every treatment that Michael completed motivated his son.

» READ MORE: ‘The Drone’ is buzzing, but will Yhoswar Garcia be the Phillies’ future in center field?

Because Logan had Mondays off, he would try to drive home from Lakewood, N.J., to Long Island as much as he could. He and his sister, Melanie, and his mother, Angela, were there for Michael’s first chemo treatment. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, they weren’t allowed inside, so they made signs of support and held them up just below his second-floor window.

“If that ever happened to me, I don’t think I could have handled it as well as he did,” Logan said. “He’s a beast.”

By the time Logan was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League, Michael was in remission. He was cleared to travel by his doctor, and flew out to Arizona to see his son play ball with some of the best prospects in the nation.

» READ MORE: Phillies' next 'dominant duo'? Mick Abel and Andrew Painter poised to climb ranks together

In 22 games, Logan hit .299/.440/.520 with eight doubles, three home runs, 17 RBIs, and more walks (21) than strikeouts (15), as Michael sat in sun and watched for a week, soaking in every inning, every pitch. In January, he received the news that he was cured, meaning the cancer was not likely to come back.

Logan arrived in Clearwater, Fla., on Jan. 2 to train ahead of the Phillies’ minicamp, so he has not been able to properly celebrate with his father yet, but plans to do that soon — and in the meantime, will keep learning from his father’s example.

“He’s one of the most consistent people I know,” Logan said. “He brings life to every room and situation he’s in. I think we just need more Michael O’Hoppes in the world.”