{"id":555195,"date":"2026-02-05T00:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/555195\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:46:16","slug":"sayville-native-angels-catcher-logan-ohoppe-visits-massapequa-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/555195\/","title":{"rendered":"Sayville native, Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe visits Massapequa school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sayville\u2019s Logan O\u2019Hoppe\u2019s journey<\/a> to becoming the Angels\u2019 starting catcher<\/a> is one that plenty of kids can learn from, and on Wednesday they did.<\/p>\n

Angela O\u2019Hoppe, Logan\u2019s mother, wrote \u201cIf You Choose to Believe Them,\u201d a children\u2019s book published last August that is based on her son\u2019s life. It emphasizes overcoming the odds, listening to those who believe in you and silencing negativity and doubt from others.<\/p>\n

Angela read the book to about 85 fifth-graders at McKenna Elementary School in Massapequa Park \u2013 where she was a student teacher in 1993 and a speech therapist from 1994-2004 \u2013 on Wednesday afternoon. Logan and his father Michael O\u2019Hoppe joined them for an interactive presentation that included questions from students.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe, of Sayville, with his mom Angela O\u2019Hoppe, during a visit to McKenna Elementary School in Massapequa Park, N.Y., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. O\u2019Hoppe\u2019s mother read from a book she wrote inspired by her son\u2019s journey to the major leagues. Credit: Newsday\/Alejandra Villa Loarca<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s huge because I think it’s part of anyone that’s made it, or anyone that’s achieving any goal that they put their mind to,\u201d Logan, who turns 26 on Monday, told Newsday. \u201cIt still goes on now. You have people that tell you you can\u2019t or you’re crazy for doing it. So I think it’s an awesome message \u2026 and one that I know a lot of these kids will benefit from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Angela: \u201cI just want every kid to have someone who tells them that they can do this. And also, too, to stress how important it is that opinions don’t matter. I mean, I’m the mother of a big-league baseball player. Do you know the things that we hear about our child in the media? Like, not always so good. And then you have to say, \u2018Do I know this person? Do I value their opinion?\u2019 No. So then you can let it roll off your back. It’s a little easier to take, but I don’t think kids have those tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdults have a hard time with tools like that, so I think it’s important for them to hear that some opinions actually don’t matter, and you’d have to value that person’s opinion before you let it affect you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan squeezed in Wednesday\u2019s visit before heading to Arizona for spring training on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve traveled a lot of places in 26 years of life, and there’s no place like being back here, no matter where I’ve gone,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve thought about moving other places and making that home, but every time I come back, this is home. So I love being back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students greeted Logan with a red-carpet entrance to the library. They cheered during a video montage detailing his career and swarmed him after the event.<\/p>\n

\"Angles<\/p>\n

Angles catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe of Sayville poses for a group photo next to his parents, Michael and Angela O\u2019Hoppe, during a visit to McKenna Elementary School in Massapequa Park on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. Credit: Newsday\/Alejandra Villa Loarca<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for our students here at McKenna to hear a powerful story of somebody that had a dream<\/a> and was able to put in the time, adopt the habits and commitment and work to achieve their dream,\u201d said William Brennan, the Massapequa School District\u2019s superintendent of schools. \u201cAnd more importantly, what I loved about what (Angela) kind of cultivated in that room was unearthing what the dreams are of our students, and the belief that any of them can achieve that. And when they lock in and they focus on what their potential is, that’s the message that they got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logan has played in four MLB seasons (311 games) and owns a career .231\/.286\/.408 slash line with 53 homers and 130 RBIs. He hit .213\/.258\/.371 with 19 homers and 43 RBIs last year and had a strong start to the season, batting .264\/.299\/.517 in his first 50 games.<\/p>\n

The Phillies selected Logan, a former Newsday\u00a0Catholic League Player of the Year at St. John the Baptist, 677th overall in the 23rd round of the 2018 MLB Draft (there were only 20 rounds last year). He forwent his commitment to East Carolina and signed with Philadelphia, which traded him to the Angels on Aug. 2, 2022. Fifty-seven days later, he made his MLB debut.<\/p>\n

Angela, now a speech therapist at Sayville High School, reflected on the adversity that Logan faced. She noted that he was in a neonatal intensive care unit after being born, was diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school, and made it to The Show despite being drafted in the 23rd round from a New York high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s pretty inspiring to me,\u201d Angela said. \u201cEven though he’s my son, that inspires me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last page of the book, which featured illustrations by Holbrook\u2019s Penny Weber, showed Logan\u2019s reaction after his first MLB hit. It included the words: \u201cThere is no limit to what you can do if you choose to believe them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports’ general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday\u2019s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sayville\u2019s Logan O\u2019Hoppe\u2019s journey to becoming the Angels\u2019 starting catcher is one that plenty of kids can learn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[291,5,1165,446,3223,17224,774,56,3224,3222,4,73068],"class_list":{"0":"post-555195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-angels","8":"tag-angels","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-angels","12":"tag-laangels","13":"tag-li-athletes","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-angels","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesangels","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-nassau"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}