Will Wagner made a big impression right away with the Blue Jays, but Joey Loperfido, another recent acquisition, hasn’t had as easy of an adjustment to a new team.
After registering four hits in his first three games with the Jays, Loperfido has not been the same. The 25-year-old was in a 0-for-22 slump with 10 strikeouts going into Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.
Loperfido is hitting since coming to the Jays in a deal with the Houston Astros, along with right-hander Jake Bloss and Wagner.111, with his one noteworthy at-bat performance coming in a triple against the New York Yankees.
Despite a difficult start to the season, the sample size is tiny, and the Jays aren’t going to let one slump make them reconsider their assessment of the versatile outfielder.
Naturally, it’s not the start he was hoping for, Jays manager John Schneider stated late last week. We remain utterly confident in him, and he is indeed making some changes. Though he maintains a pleasant demeanor and realizes that this will take some time, he is feeling it.
Fastballs high in the zone seem to be the go-to pitch for opposing pitchers looking to encourage Loperfido to pursue low breaking balls like sliders, curveballs, and slurves. It’s a typical tactic that has led to Loperfido.
Against the 179 breaking pitches he has seen in the major leagues, Loperfido is hitting just.073. In 41 at-bats, he has only managed one extra-base hit and has struck out on 52.1% of those pitches. Baseball Savant, a Statcast statistics source, indicates that Loperfido has a run value of -1 for curveballs and -5 for sliders.
While improving, Loperfido’s fastball stats are still much below his desired level. The most troublesome are four-seamers, which are intended to be thrown up in the zone. In contrast to his.350 average and +3 run value on sinkers, he is hitting.191 with a -5 run value on those pitches.
Schneider stated, “I believe what we’re seeing is balls up in the zone and balls down in the zone.” Since it’s only a brief snapshot, I don’t want to worry over it too much. We think the person, who is really talented, will be alright.
The Jays’ ability to adopt such a casual approach with their new signings is one of the few bright spots from this disaster of a season. A slump by a starting position player would become a major problem if they were in the running for the playoffs.
Loperfido is expected to take advantage of this chance to present himself as a candidate for a full-time position in the spring. Should he succeed, the Jays will have one less off-season concern in left field. If he doesn’t, the former seventh-round choice in the 2021 draft will probably be sent back to the minor leagues or take over Cavan Biggio’s utility job.
In this week’s “Deep Left Field” podcast episode from The Star, Loperfido stated, “I tried not to frame (the trade) as Houston doesn’t want me.” “I made an effort to focus on the benefits of moving to Toronto, including the fact that I would be able to play more and would have more opportunity to succeed.
This team seems to be a little bit younger than others. It seems like there are men similar to me who are attempting to make a name for themselves in the major leagues as regular players.
The Jays aren’t that young, but they injected some youth into their system at the trade deadline. Justin Turner, Kevin Kiermaier, Trevor Richards and Kikuchi were among the aging veterans dealt to contenders in deals that brought back 13 prospects.
Of the players recently acquired, Loperfido and Wagner are the only ones with significant roles on the active roster. They will likely be joined in the not-so-distant future by Bloss and outfielder Jonatan Clase, who was added in the deal that sent reliever Yimi Garcia to Seattle.
Then there’s Spencer Horwitz, Davis Schneider, Ernie Clement and Leo Jimenez, who were on the roster before the deadline and are still auditioning. That group will be competing against each other and whoever performs the best will enter spring training with an inside track on whatever jobs are still available.
Loperfido doesn’t have to start looking over his shoulder quite yet. He’s going to be given ample time to showcase his skills and try to turn his rough opening stretch into something more positive.
Still, the production will have to come at some point before the end of the season if Loperfido wants to be factored in for 2025. Even a noncontending Jays team can only remain patient for so long.
