Champ or Chump: Joey Loperfido and Jordan Beck Fantasy Baseball Outlooks

The number of young players to make their major league debuts this season is already quite high and we are only two months into the season.

Between injuries and poor performances, teams are being forced into bringing up talented minor leaguers sooner and sooner each year. Two prospects who were both recently called up by their clubs are Joey Loperfido of the Houston Astros and Jordan Beck of the Colorado Rockies.

What can these players do for fantasy managers? And which of them are "champs" or "chumps" for this fantasy baseball season?

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Joey Loperfido (OF, SF) - 11% Rostered

When Loperfido first was called up to Houston, it looked like he'd be seeing regular playing time at first base, DH, or the outfield as the Astros had demoted veteran Jose Abreu after he struggled mightily for the first month of the season.

But regular playing time has not come readily for Loperfido. He's appeared in just 14 games for Houston and is losing the playing time battle to Jon Singleton and Jake Meyers.

Joey Loperfido is on a 5 game hit streak. His transition to the majors has been relatively smooth & has adjusted well. 1st HR last night & has showed off his defense in the outfield as well. Bright future #Astros
.324 AVG/.819 OPS (11 games)
5 RBI/11 H pic.twitter.com/3pDSEVonMq https://t.co/xm5DvZyq9p

— Maanav Gupta (@MGSportsTalk) May 17, 2024

To his credit, Loperfido has hit well when given the chance - he's hitting .333 with one home run and five RBI. But with the impending return of Chas McCormick and possibly Abreu, it's likely that Houston will want to send Loperfido back down to Triple-A so he can get more consistent at-bats. For now, Loperfido is a chump for fantasy baseball, but if his circumstances change later in the season he has shown the ability of a champ with regular playing time.

Jordan Beck (OF, COL) - 24% Rostered

Jordan Beck was promoted to Colorado back on April 30 and has been an everyday starter for the Rockies now for three straight weeks. Over 20 games, he's hit .197 with two home runs while driving in seven runs and stealing two bases.

He really struggled during his first week with the club, going just 3-24 without a single counting stat.

Jordan Beck homers for the second consecutive game.

His 410 ft blast to center (104.1 mph exit velo) extends the Rockies lead over the Giants. pic.twitter.com/mLubvJw43O

— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) May 18, 2024

Beck picked it up after that, going on a nice hitting streak from May 11-17. But he's just 1-16 over the last week and has seen his strikeout rate rise to a whopping 38%. With Kris Bryant set to return to the lineup soon, it could be the end of regular playing time for Beck. And when Nolan Jones finally makes it back from his injury (he suffered a setback in his recovery) then Beck may not even have a roster spot.

At this point, the highly-regarded prospect has looked like a chump. He probably needs some more time at Triple-A to work on making contact at a higher rate.

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