Blaze Jordan didn't bristle at his extended stay in Portland, and both he and the Sox are better for it
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'It was a good thing for me. I wanted to feel like I was dominating that level before I got out of there. I feel like last year I didn't really show that,' said Jordan. 'This year I wanted to prove myself and hit myself and play myself out of that level. And I feel like I did a really good job of that.'
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106.3 mph off the bat on this Blaze Jordan home run!
— Red Sox Player Development (@RedSoxPlayerDev)
Indeed. Jordan hit .320/.415/.513 with six homers and 17 extra-base hits in 44 games, with more walks (13 percent rate) than strikeouts (11 percent). His season picked up steam as it progressed, with Jordan named the Eastern League Player of the Month in May after hitting .390/.490/.671 with all six of his Sea Dogs homers.
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Beyond the numbers, Jordan made huge strides in the quality of his at-bats. He achieved amateur prominence for his righthanded raw power — Jordan hit 500-foot homers with an aluminum bat as a teenager — but entered pro ball with questions about his bat-to-ball skills.
Instead, he unexpectedly proved a standout who tended to make contact, but rarely drove the ball in the air and chased pitches out of the strike zone. (Pitches he often ended up chopping down on for very hard ground balls.)
'[Jordan] and Roman [Anthony] probably hit the hardest ground balls in the organization,' said Sox farm director Brian Abraham. 'Elevate the ball a little bit more than those five-hoppers to the shortstop, second baseman, or third baseman, and you have hits, extra-base hits, and damage. That comes from the training.'
Blaze Jordan spent parts of three seasons in Double A, playing 182 of his first 403 professional games for the Portland Sea Dogs.
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
How to drive the ball in the air — and become more selective in an effort to do so — had been a Jordan issue for years. But this spring training, when
'In the minor leagues, [Bregman] had the same struggles I was kind of having. He wasn't walking as much as he should or hitting the ball in the air,' recounted Jordan. 'And he talked to us about how he simplified his approach, just trying to get the ball up in the zone and just looking for certain zones early in the count, something he can really drive early in the count and just take your walks.
'And obviously, when you get to Boston, you've got that Green Monster in left field, so you really want to use that if you're a righthanded hitter. So that's another thing I've really been focused on with the staff here, just trying to get the ball in the air more to left field. And I feel like it's been paying off.'
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Jordan emphasized better swing decisions to identify pitches he could drive, a cleaner bat angle that wasn't as steep, and moving his contact point forward to drive the ball in the air. In games, his chase rate has dropped from 37 percent to 27 percent, contributing to a huge bump in walks as well as his recent slugging surge.
With those improvements, Jordan — primarily a first baseman who also gets some time at third — earned a promotion to Triple A Worcester at the start of this month. Despite his lengthy apprenticeship in Portland, Jordan remains one of the youngest players in the International League — he's a week younger than
'I feel like a lot of people think that I'm a lot older than what I am because I've been in the organization for so long,' said Jordan. 'But I have to remind myself sometimes, I am still pretty young.
'It was good that I spent those three years down [in Portland]. I feel like I've matured a lot,' he added. 'I feel like I'm a better ball player because of that. There were some things that I needed to work on to hopefully be a big leaguer soon.'
Miguel Bleis' Last 2 Games:
3 HR
6 RBI
14 TB
— Red Sox Player Development (@RedSoxPlayerDev)
Three up
⋅ Outfielder Miguel Bleis, 21, is offering a dazzling reminder of his explosive tools for High A Greenville. In his last 11 games, he's hitting .375/.444/.850 with six homers, along with just six strikeouts in 45 plate appearances, improving his season line to .260/.335/.513.
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⋅ Righthander David Sandlin, 24, is amidst arguably his best stretch as a member of the Red Sox organization. In his last three starts, he's allowed three runs in 18 innings for Double A Portland, striking out 20 and walking three. He's pitched seven and six innings in his last two outings — his longest starts since coming to the Sox from the Royals in
⋅ Catcher Johanfran Garcia, who entered Saturday hitting .314/.342/.571 during a rehab assignment in the Rookie level FCL, is slated to join Greenville this coming week. Garcia, 20, is considered the best catching prospect in the system.
Three down
⋅ Outfielder Roman Anthony, 21, entered the weekend amidst a brief slump, posting a .147/.256/.265 line with a 28 percent strikeout rate over eight games. It resulted in WooSox manager Chad Tracy giving Anthony his first day off in 33 games. (Anthony promptly smashed
⋅ Infielder Mikey Romero, 21, landed on the injured list for Double A Portland with minor elbow soreness. Primarily a middle infielder through his pro career, Romero has seen an uptick in his time at third, which has meant more pregame infield work that might have contributed to a dead arm. The decision to put him on the IL also gives Romero a chance to reset after a 10-game stretch in which he hit .158/.250/.263.
⋅ One of the Red Sox' Dominican Summer League affiliates had to employ multiple position players on the mound in the first game of the DSL season because it didn't have enough pitchers built up and ready.
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