Seventh-round pick Joey Dixon finds health, maturity en route to Astros

Growing up with 10 siblings, Joey Dixon lived for competition. He comes from an athletic family with his brother, Jimi, playing baseball at Salt Lake Community College and his sister, Malori, playing basketball at Concordia University. Seven years younger than Jimi, Joey followed him around to sporting events growing up.

Joey followed in Jimi’s footsteps, playing college baseball at Stanford. But in his first season, he didn’t feel as prepared as he thought he did. The following season, he pitched on a partially torn UCL in his right elbow that he rehabbed that summer. It wasn’t until his junior season that he pieced it all together.

“Overall, the thing that changed the most was my health and maturity,” Dixon said. “Combining both experience and being healthy really helped me this year.”

Dixon made 21 appearances — 14 starts — this season, posting a 4.73 ERA and striking out 90 batters in 83.2 innings. He saw an uptick in strikeouts, punching out nearly 10 batters per nine innings. He also found himself in the College World Series, where Stanford ended its season in 2021, too.

“I would say the playoffs as a whole boosted conversation but not the College World Series specifically,” Dixon said. “I was lucky enough to be a part of a really special group of guys at Stanford this year, and I’m super grateful to have experienced Omaha again with them.”

Those conversations trickled into the seventh round of the MLB Draft, when the Houston Astros selected Dixon with the 224th pick. Domestic area supervisor Kevin Mello spearheaded those discussions, admiring Dixon’s competitiveness on the mound.

Dixon signed with the Astros on Friday. He will travel Saturday morning to West Palm Beach, Florida, to begin his first workouts with the organization.