The Houston Astros have played horrific baseball to start the 2024 season, and now, with their backs against the wall and in desperate need of a spark, the Astros are looking to a former Duke baseball alum.
Former Blue Devils Joey Loperfido got called up to make his MLB debut on Tuesday when the Astros host the AL’s best team, the Cleveland Guardians.
Loperfido leads all minor league baseball with 13 home runs, including a solo bomb he smashed during his final game with the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Sunday. He finished the game 2-for-3, raising his OPS to 1.106 after 101 at-bats during a remarkable April.
Loperfido may not be a seasoned first baseman, but he’s had enough reps there, playing in seven games in Triple-A. His time in Durham saw him as an outfielder, so he also offers the Astros versatility defensively.
Joey did it all for us and now he’s headed to the majors! 🥹 https://t.co/9anVIin76R pic.twitter.com/VeIaqQ0I6x
— Duke Baseball (@DukeBASE) April 29, 2024
Houston drafted Loperfido out of Duke in the seventh round of the 2021 draft. At Duke, Loperfido started all 170 games he appeared in during his time with the Blue Devils. In his four years at Duke, Loperfido posted a .317 career batting average, collecting 201 hits, 37 doubles, nine triples, 18 home runs, and tallying 96 RBI. He drew 85 walks and held a slugging percentage of .488, adding an on-base percentage of .419. In the field, Loperfido posted a career fielding percentage of .992
Last season, he won the Astros’ Minor League Player of the Year award after slashing .278/.370/.510 with 55 extra-base hits across three levels of affiliated ball. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him as Houston’s sixth-best prospect before the season started.
The Astros are still led by the same core, which has helped them win two World Series: Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, and Alex Bregman. However, the rest of the lineup needs a spark.
Already ten games below .500 and six games back in the American League West, the Astros can’t rely on Jose Abreu much longer as he’s become one of the worst offensive players in the league to start the season.
The game starts Tuesday at 7:10 CT / 8:10 ET at Minute Maid Park and can be seen on MLB.TV.