Astros Crawfish Boil: Saturday, January 7, 2023

Welcome to the Weekend Crawfish Boil!

Houston Astros News

Who will fill Díaz’s shoes as Astros’ utility man? (mlb.com)

Yuli Gurriel could sign with Astros rival? (larrybrownsports.com)

MLB News

Report: Former Houston Astros Star Correa Has a New Suitor (si.com)
tl;dr — Scott Boras hints at a new suitor, but doesn’t say who.

Who Will Sign Trey Mancini? 5 Potential Free Agent Landing Spots (si.com)

MLB Off-Season: Early 2023 AL West Power Rankings (si.com)

Where might Trevor Bauer sign next? These teams might have interest (latimes.com)

White Sox Sign Veteran Outfielder to Minor League Deal (sportsmockery.com)

Dodgers’ 2 advantages in potential Shohei Ohtani 2023 free agency pursuit (clutchpoints.com)

2009 World Series Winner Alex Rodriguez Shelves Past Criticism to Applaud New York Yankees’ Ambitious Front Office Move (essentiallysports.com)

Oop! All Astros: Joey Loperfido

Joey Loperfido is a six-foot-four, 195 lb. right-side infielder / outfielder from Philadelphia, PA. Born on May 11, 1999, he was Houston’s seventh-round pick out of Duke University in 2021, with the 208th pick overall. Of the 10 eventual major leaguers picked at the spot, RHP Jim Barr (30.7) has the highest career-WAR. Eighty-eight players have been drafted out of Duke, headlined by Marcus Stroman (20.0 WAR).

Loperfido signed a below-slot contract with a $72,500 signing bonus. In 19 games following the draft with the Low-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers, he struggled with a .116/.276/.261 slashline, with two home runs and six RBI. The 2022 campaign would see him pen a different storyline.

Loperfido played his first 82 games of the season with the Woodpeckers, and collected multiple hits in 26 of them. On April 17, he hit two home runs and collected four RBI in an 8-4 victory against the Salem Red Sox. On June 9, in a 15-5 win against the Delmarva Shorebirds, he hit a double, a triple, and three singles with three runs scored and three RBI.

Over his four months with the team, Loperfido produced a .304/.399/.473 slashline with nine jacks and 45 RBI. He also stole 30 bases in 39 attempts, and earned a promotion to the High-A Asheville Tourists at the start of August through the end of the campaign.

In 26 games with the higher outfit, Loperfido improved his already pretty good slashline to .354/.434/.552 with three home runs and 24 RBI. He had 10 more multi-hit games, including a three-hit, two-RBI game on August 26 in a 10-9 loss to the Winston-Salem Dash. Loperfido hit a double and a pair of singles in the loss.

Defensively, Loperfido played 256 innings at first base (.987 fielding percentage), 229 ¹⁄₃ innings at second base (.972), 155 ¹⁄₃ innings in center field (.974), 128 frames in left field (1.000), and 64 ²⁄₃ innings in right field (.917). Although never considered a “ranked” prospect, I have never understood why not. When I saw him come through Fayetteville, I noticed his play was a cut above immediately. It was bittersweet to see him promoted so soon. Good for him, but bad for me, as I won’t get to see him play in person anymore. This guy is major-league bound. It’s only a question of when, and I’d say 2024. Thanks for reading.