Joey Loperfido Is the Next Astros Prospect You Absolutely Need to Know

The Astros farm system has been panned mightily over the last few years. They traded many of their top prospects in deadline deals to acquire superstars, and also faced steep penalties and loss of draft picks as punishment for the sign-stealing scandal.

While some will tell you the cupboard is bare, prospects continue to emerge from out of nowhere to become key contributors for a title contending team. Names like Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers and Jeremy Peña are just some of the few in recent memory that have arrived in the bigs without much hype and gone one to make big contributions on pennant and Worls Series winning teams.

While Drew Gilbert is deservedly commanding much of the attention, the Astros have another prospect in Corpus Christi that Astros fans must know: Joey Loperfido.

Loperfido was a seventh round pick in the 2021 draft out of Duke. In four seasons at Duke, Loperfido hit .317 with a .907 OPS. His senior season in particular was special, hitting .374 with a 1.085 OPS.

He hasn't stopped hitting since arriving at the professional level.

Loperfido hit .316 with a .900 OPS last season across 108 games at low-A and high-A. After eight games this season at the high-A level, Loperfido was promoted to AA where he has really put on a show.

In 27 games with the Corpus Christi Hooks, Loperfido is hitting .309 with a .994 OPS. He's got eight doubles and five home runs, with 22 walks to 26 strikeouts. He's also swiped eight bags. At the AAA level he has posted a 160 WRC+ and a .439 wOBA.

He's now played exactly 162 games at the minor league level. In a full season of games, Loperfiod has hit .289 with an .868 OPS, hit 20 home runs, 39 doubles, driven in 103 runs, stolen 44 bases and walked 85 times.

Defensively, he's a swiss army knife. Loperfido can play all three outfield spots, playing centerfield in 30 games, left field 25 times and right field 19 times. He's also played second base 42 times and first base 39 times.

Houston loves their utility players, and Loperfido can do it all. He hits for average, power, draws walks, steals bases and plays great defense all over the diamond.

The next great Astros utility man is here. Look for Loperfido to debut some time in 2024. Get to know him now. You're gonna love him.