Minor League Scouting Report: Houston Astros’ Joey Loperfido

The name Joey Loperfido may not be familiar to baseball fans.

However, it won’t be much longer before Loperfido becomes a much talked about Major League Baseball prospect.

The left-handed hitting Loperfido, who turns 25 in May, is belting home runs for the Houston Astros Triple-A Sugar Land team in the Pacific Coast League.

This old scout has watched a considerable amount of video on Loperfido.

This writer believes Loperfido is still not getting all the attention he deserves.

In his first 16 games this season, Loperfido has hit 10 home runs.

At the present time, Loperfido is hitting .297. He has driven in 24 runs in 64 at-bats.

He has a complete stat line of .297/.397/.797/.1.194.

About Joey Loperfido:

Joey Loperfido went to Haddonfield Memorial High School, in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

At Haddonfield, Loperfido hit above .400 as a sophomore, junior, and senior.

Loperfido also lettered in soccer in high school.

Joey Loperfido spent four season playing for Duke University.

He compiled a .317 batting average in 765 plate appearances covering 170 games. His slash line was .317/.419/.488.

While at Duke, Loperfido hit 48 homers, and drove in 175 runs.

Loperfido drew 133 walks, while striking out 287 times.

The Duke athletic department characterized Loperfido as a “Swiss army knife” at goduke.com. He played the infield as a freshman and sophomore, and then moved to the outfield as a junior and senior.

In 2021, Loperfido won the Most Valuable Player Award in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

Scouting Joey Loperfido:

After graduating from Duke, Loperfido was a 7th round draft choice of the Houston Astros in the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.

Loperfido received a $750,000 signing bonus from Houston.

MLB.com lists Loperfido as the No. 6 prospect in the Astros organization.

After a slow start in the Astros minor league development program, Loperfido has really blossomed as a power hitting threat.

In 2023, Loperfido was the Astros Minor League Player of the Year, when he hit 25 homers and stole 27 bases, rising from Class-A Advanced to Triple-A.

Offensively, Loperfido has game-changing power. He is an impact hitter, and at 6-3, 220 pounds, he gets the most from his impressive, athletic frame.

Loperfido has a nice combination of power and speed, which to this scout, are his two most polished and advanced tools.

The Astros have worked with Loperfido to make much better swing decisions and better choices and pitch selections at the plate.

Even back to his college days, Loperfido hit lots of ground balls. One of the results of Loperfido’s improvements is getting greater loft on the ball. The net result? More gap liners, and more home runs.

Loperfido has to continue to reduce his ground ball rate and concentrate on getting pitches he can drive, with enough loft to avoid pounding the ball into the ground.

Avoiding those ground balls may be a constant goal.

Finding greater balance in his approach and mechanics at the plate, Loperfido is hitting his way into the future plans of the Astros.

With his hands held high, and using a leg kick as his hitting trigger, Loperfido has the ability to drop the barrel of the bat into the ball, using quick enough hands and the strength of his entire body to generate power.

One caution regarding Loperfido is his strikeout rate. Like many, many power hitters, he does have swing-and-miss in his game.

Defensively, Loperfido is capable of playing all three outfield positions, as well as second base, and first base, if needed.

He isn’t a great defensive player, but he will hold his own.

Loperfido doesn’t have the arm strength one would like to see of a right fielder, but he could play credibly in right, or even second base.

As is the case on offense, Loperfido’s speed is an asset on defense. He can get to balls hit in the air.

The Future For Loperfido:

There is always in future in MLB for a player that can hit the ball out of the park.

While his defense is adequate, it is the power/speed combination Loperfido brings that will earn him graduation to the big leagues.

The Astros will likely promote Loperfido at some point this season. And if he keeps hitting the ball out of the park, his promotion may come sooner than later.

Whenever he graduates to the parent club, the front office and Astros manager Joe Espada will have to be patient as Loperfido adjusts to seeing major league quality pitching on a regular basis.

But this scout has seen enough from Loperfido to be bullish on his ability to hit the ball out of any park, and use his much better than average speed to bring pressure to the opposition.

The Astros are off to a dismal, and surprising 6-14 start to the season. They may need a slugger like Loperfido sooner than later.

Scouting Grade for Joey Loperfido:

On the 20-80 MLB scout grading scale, this scout believes Loperfido to be a Grade 55 player-a better than average, every day player with more than one very good tool.

That grade is higher than many analysts have offered.

However, to this writer, Loperfido’s power/speed combination will bring both Loperfido and the Astros some true rewards.