Red Sox prospect Jordan off to *blazing* start after promotion to High-A

Boston Red Sox teenage prospect Blaze Jordan makes a powerful impression upon being promoted to the High-A Greenville Drive

The Boston Red Sox made a flurry of moves this past week within their farm system, assigning new draftees to their first professional teams, and promoting several prospects of note across the organizational landscape.

2022 draft picks Mikey Romero (1st round), Cutter Coffey (1st round supplemental), and Roman Anthony (2nd round supplemental) were assigned to Florida Complex League (FCL) Red Sox in Ft Myers, where their professional careers will begin in Rookie Ball.

The most notable assignment in the Red Sox farm system this past week was the promotion of 2021 first round pick and top organizational prospect, shortstop Marcelo Mayer, who was promoted to the Hi-A Greenville Drive on August 9th. Mayer, ranked as the #13 overall prospect in the sport by Baseball America in their updated August Prospect Rankings, finishes his season at Low-A Salem hitting .286 with a .910 OPS, 9 home runs, and 16 stolen bases in as many attempts. He’ll join 2020 first round pick, second baseman Nick Yorke. The young middle infielders will play together professionally for the first time as they work toward becoming the future double play combo in Boston.

Joining Mayer in being called up from Salem to Greenville on August 9th, was 2020 third round pick, Blaze Jordan. The corner infielder was a viral sensation as an amateur, known for hitting mammoth homer runs at the age of 13. Jordan was a fine all around player as well, winning the Gatorade High School Player of the Year Award in his home state of Mississippi his senior year. He’d forgo a Mississippi State scholarship in favor of signing with the Boston Red Sox as a third round pick. Jordan was originally scheduled to be draft eligible in 2021, but met the necessary academic requirements to re-classify for the 2020 MLB Draft, and was among the youngest draft eligible players in his class.

As a result of the COVID Pandemic wiping out the 2020 minor league season, Jordan had to wait until 2021 to make his professional debut. While the Red Sox were aggressive in their assignment of fellow high school draftee, Nick Yorke, starting the 2020 first round pick out at Low-A Salem to begin his pro career, they were more cautious with Jordan, holding him back in extended Spring Training before assigning him to the FCL, which starts in early June.

Jordan would lay waste to the FCL as the youngest domestic player in the league to start the season, hitting .362 with a 1.075 OPS and 4 home runs in 19 games before earning a promotion to Low-A Salem. A wrist injury would slow his production after the promotion, though he’d hit a respectable .250 with a .733 OPS in 9 games as one of the youngest players in the Carolina League.

Jordan and Mayer would both start the 2022 season at Low-A Salem. Jordan got off to an awful start, hitting a home run in the season opener, but finishing the month of April hitting just .162 with the lone opening game home run for the month. However, his bat would start to warm up as the weather did. He hit .323 in May, and would confirm his status as a legitimate prospect in the month of June where he hit a blazing .404 with a 1.142 OPS.

Scouting services and talent evaluators across the sport viewed Jordan as a project-type prospect that would move a level a season and would take a lot of time and development in the minor leagues ahead of making it to the big leagues. He carries a double plus power grade, and his ability to hit majestic home runs would be his calling card to Major League success. Developing enough of an offensive game around the extraordinary power to compensate for the high strikeout rate that comes with a young, power above all else prospect would determine if Jordan could ever become a viable Major League player. However, as Jordan found his groove and turned around his 2022 season, the one thing missing was the gaudy home run totals. He finished his time at Low-A Salem with a .286 batting average and an .803 OPS, but hit just 8 home runs in 370 at bats.

In place of the big home run total was a well rounded offensive prospect, still just 19 years old, who showed a level of patience and outstanding pitch recognition for a player of his age and offensive profile. He showed the ability to hit the ball to all fields, while walking in nearly 10% of his plate appearances. While the overall home run total was lower than expected, the ones he did connect on were majestic, no doubters, showing the level of power that Jordan has become famous for. Perhaps the most impressive evolution of Jordan’s game was that he only struck out in 16% of his plate appearances, a rare feat for any teenage prospect, but especially noteworthy for Jordan who was expected to rack up the strikeouts in his quest to demolish baseballs.

Jordan did not homer for Salem in the six August games he played in Low-A before his August 9th promotion to Greenville.  His August 9th debut with The Drive would be a memorable one, as Jordan introduced himself to his Hi-A teammates and opposing pitchers by going 2 for 3 with 2 home runs. He’d follow that performance with another 2 hit night, before joining his teammates in a hitless game on Thursday, where The Drive were victims of a combined no-hitter against the Hickory Crawdads in the Hi-A South Atlantic League.

Blaze Jordan has continued to impress scouts inside the Red Sox organization and around the baseball industry as he bucks against the “all or nothing” projection that he’s been labeled with since being drafted in 2020. Like he’s been at his two prior minor league stops, he’s one of the youngest players in the Hi-A South Atlantic League. He is currently rated as the 10th best prospect in the Red Sox organization, and is not ranked among the Top 100 overall prospects in Baseball America’s most recent prospect ranking update. If he can continue to show himself as a complete hitter, while tapping into the power he’s shown early on in Hi-A, he’s likely to “Blaze” up both of those lists heading into 2023.