Power prodigy starts strong at Triple-A

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It was five years ago that the Red Sox selected Blaze Jordan (a child home run prodigy) out of high school at the age of 17.

Jordan moved up his graduation class to a year earlier so he could be a rare 17-year-old to go in the Draft. The Red Sox went under slot with their first-round pick that year (Nick Yorke) so they could select Jordan in the third round.

Though Jordan is unranked in Boston’s farm system by MLB Pipeline, the 22-year-old corner infielder is regaining traction as a prospect to watch following his promotion to Triple-A Worcester last week.

What led to the right-handed hitter climbing to the highest ladder of the Minor Leagues?

“He's continued to improve in a lot of areas,” said Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham. “Overall, it's been his consistency on both sides of the ball. Solid defense -- especially at first base -- improved swing decisions, impacting the baseball and driving the ball in the air for damage.”

After struggling a bit last season with swing decisions and hitting the ball in the air en route to a .693 OPS for Double-A Portland, Jordan has regained his footing.

In 44 games and 176 plate appearances with Portland before his move to Worcester, Jordan had a line of .320/.415/.513 with six homers and 37 RBIs.

That carried over into a strong start at Triple-A, where Jordan went 9-for-24 with six doubles and one homer in his first six games.

While it remains to be seen if Jordan can emerge as a platoon bat in the Majors, or perhaps even an everyday player at some point, he is now a phone call away from Boston (and less than 50 miles) should the need arise.

“We view our Triple-A roster as Major League depth, so it starts to put his name into that conversation as he gets more at-bats at that level,” Abraham said. “He needs to continue to improve and be consistent in the areas that have led him to have success this year -- hammering pitches in the heart of the plate for damage. Defensively, continued focus on converting balls in play into outs -- whether at third base or first.”

At 11 years old, Jordan ripped a 396-foot homer at Choctaw Stadium -- the former home ballpark of the Texas Rangers. At the same venue a couple of years later, Jordan mashed one that was projected at 500 feet.

To this point, Jordan’s career high in homers for a pro season is the 18 he hit in 2023, split between High-A Greenville and Portland.

“He has gotten stronger and more physical so that has only helped,” Abraham said. “His raw power has remained consistent -- the biggest improvement is translating that raw power into game power so he can impact the baseball and provide more damage more consistently.”

Here are some other developments on the farm:

Triple-A Worcester
Roman Anthony, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect, added another level of excitement to his hype train when he launched a Statcast-projected 497-foot grand slam on Saturday night. Are the Red Sox at the point of near daily conversations about the timing of his callup?

“I think it's fair [to say that],” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Obviously there's always conversations, not only about him, but other players. He’s actually doing an outstanding job. Let's be honest about that. It's just a matter of what we're going to do, how we're going to do it, or when we’re going to do it, right? And I keep getting the questions, and that's my best answer.”

Double-A Portland
Righty David Sandlin and lefty Connelly Early -- Boston’s No. 8 and No. 9 prospects -- continue to be a rotation duo to watch. Sandlin over his past five starts has a 3.25 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while walking five and striking out 32 over 27 2/3 innings. In Early’s past five starts, his ERA is 2.16 and he has 36 strikeouts in 25 innings.

High-A Greenville
An in-season promotion to Greenville did nothing to cool off the hitting machine known as No. 3 prospect Franklin Arias. In his first 31 games and 133 at-bats for the Drive, he is hitting .353 with 11 doubles, three homers and 25 RBIs.

Single-A Salem
Antonio Anderson, drafted as a shortstop out of high school in the third round in 2023, is getting most of his time at third base. The switch-hitter has been stinging the baseball, hitting .319 with four homers and 28 RBIs.