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Red Sox Select Blaze Jordan, 3B/1B, DeSoto Central (MS)
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Post by vermontsox1 on Jun 11, 2020 18:44:00 GMT -5
MLB Pipeline write-up:
DeSoto Central High (Southaven, Miss.) produced a supplemental first-round slugger in Austin Riley in 2015, and five years later has a player with even more raw power. Jordan ranked as one of the top players in the 2021 class until he reclassified last May, becoming one of the youngest (17 years, five months on Draft day) and most intriguing prospects in the 2020 group. He won the High School Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in July, though he had less success facing live pitching on the showcase circuit.
Few players in the 2020 Draft can do more damage to a baseball than Jordan, whose legend began to grow when he won his first national home run derby at age 11 and belted a pair of 500-foot homers at another when he was 13. His combination of impressive strength and bat speed allows him to hit mammoth blasts without a lot of loft in his right-handed stroke, and he recorded the highest exit velocity (106.9 mph) at the World Wood Bat Association World Championship in October. He still has to answer questions about his hitting ability after a summer of swings and misses against older competition, though his proponents think he'll make enough contact once he gets more time to adjust.
While Jordan has worked diligently to lose weight and improve defensively at third base, most scouts believe he's almost certainly destined to play first base as a pro. The Mississippi State recruit possesses average arm strength but he's a below-average runner whose lack of quickness is better suited for first base. Wherever he plays, he'll create most of his value with his power.
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nomar
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Post by nomar on Jun 11, 2020 18:48:01 GMT -5
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cdj
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Post by cdj on Jun 11, 2020 18:51:17 GMT -5
Well now you can talk about it with him kid! Excited about the pick
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Post by chr31ter on Jun 11, 2020 19:16:48 GMT -5
Casas and Jordan is potentially big-time thunder in the middle of your lineup come 2025 or so.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Jun 11, 2020 19:40:56 GMT -5
BA's #90 prospect.
It woudn't surprise me if they had a deal in place for him, too.
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Post by dmaineah on Jun 11, 2020 19:49:57 GMT -5
You wouldn’t draft him without knowing you could get him signed........right?
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nomar
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Post by nomar on Jun 11, 2020 19:50:38 GMT -5
Sounds like Mark Reynolds for an obviously way too early comp
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Post by kman22 on Jun 11, 2020 19:51:53 GMT -5
You wouldn’t draft him without knowing you could get him signed........right? If we are to trust Dan O'Dowd, you don't draft a guy in the third round unless you know you can sign him.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jun 11, 2020 20:34:19 GMT -5
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Post by alexcorahomevideo on Jun 11, 2020 20:40:35 GMT -5
Sounds like Mark Reynolds for an obviously way too early comp There were a couple of years where Mark Reynolds looked like a million bucks.
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Post by dirtdog on Jun 11, 2020 21:36:07 GMT -5
For some reason I look at him and I am reminded of Will Middlebrooks. Dont know why so dont read anything into it.
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Post by vermontsox1 on Jun 11, 2020 21:53:35 GMT -5
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Post by borisman on Jun 11, 2020 23:01:09 GMT -5
Some website at end of last summer had Blaze mocked at #5 overall. Before you laugh, they had Hancock, Torkelson, JT Ginn, Austin Martin, Blaze, PCA, Lacy, Dylan Crews, Wilcox and Patrick Bailey as the top 10.
Edit: Added write-up from mock draft...
5. DETROIT TIGERS: Blaze Jordan, 1B/3B, DeSoto Central HS (MS)
Jordan has had the Bryce Harper comparisons since he was 12-years-old. It’s very hard to mock any high-schooler this high but the ceiling Jordan has could make him a super star before he gets to the majors. Much like they did with the Riley Greene pick this year, regardless of Jordan’s true position and questions of his glove, his hitting ability is more valuable to the Tigers.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 11, 2020 23:04:32 GMT -5
Some great stuff earlier from Prospects Live when they put together a data driven big board that placed Blaze at #53:
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jimoh
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Post by jimoh on Jun 12, 2020 6:55:54 GMT -5
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Post by wOBA Fett on Jun 12, 2020 10:22:45 GMT -5
I think Kris Bryant is an excellent Comp
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Post by bluechip on Jun 12, 2020 12:10:24 GMT -5
That’s a very piece. I doubt Blaze will ever be given credit for a homer longer than Ted Williams. Remember when Manny crushed on off the light tower and they said it was 501 feet....
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Jun 12, 2020 12:31:09 GMT -5
That’s a very piece. I doubt Blaze will ever be given credit for a homer longer than Ted Williams. Remember when Manny crushed on off the light tower and they said it was 501 feet.... Ted’s red seat will always be with us. But with Blaze, Casas, Dalbec, Chavis + juiced balls, better bats, better training, and all capable of moonshots, maybe we can expect a yellow seat or orange seat in the near future? That would be fun.
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cdj
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Post by cdj on Jun 12, 2020 13:42:12 GMT -5
That’s a very piece. I doubt Blaze will ever be given credit for a homer longer than Ted Williams. Remember when Manny crushed on off the light tower and they said it was 501 feet.... That ball manny hit was no less than 650 feet. If the light tower didn’t get in the way it would’ve taken out a satellite Blaze Jordan is too cool to fail
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Post by swingingbunt on Jun 12, 2020 14:26:15 GMT -5
If Seth Schwindenhammer's name alone couldn't carry him to greatness then neither will Blaze Jordan.
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Post by Ryanod1 on Jun 12, 2020 15:43:37 GMT -5
Is anyone else concerned about his swing at all? I keep cringing when I see the back foot leave the dirt when he swings. To me, fixing that will make a major change in his contact, and ability to catch up to high velo stuff. I used to see a few teammates in college do this when they were fooled by off speed, or if they were going for seeing eye singles. Kid could be an absolute monster some day though.
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Post by RedSoxStats on Jun 12, 2020 17:54:23 GMT -5
Is anyone else concerned about his swing at all? I keep cringing when I see the back foot leave the dirt when he swings. One of the telltale signs elite power weight transfer, as seen with Harper, Moncada, etc.
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Post by geostorm on Jun 12, 2020 18:28:00 GMT -5
Is anyone else concerned about his swing at all? I keep cringing when I see the back foot leave the dirt when he swings. One of the telltale signs elite power weight transfer, as seen with Harper, Moncada, etc. fwiw, here's what Keith Law had to say about his swing -
"Boston went way off the highway with Nick Yorke (1), the only player taken in round one who wasn’t ranked on my Top 100. Yorke has a good swing, geared more for average than power, but he doesn’t have the range or arm for shortstop after a shoulder injury and is probably limited to second base in the long term. Even if the Red Sox really believe in his bat, he would almost certainly have been available at their next pick; I spoke to multiple teams who said they either didn’t have him in the top three rounds or deemed him unsignable for worth due to his commitment to Arizona.
The Red Sox didn’t have a second-round pick, and in the third round they took one of the most famous players in the draft in Blaze Jordan (3), a 17-year-old high school first baseman from Mississippi who puts on a great BP but has little game power because of a swing that is all hands, making no use of his lower half. He’s limited to first base, so he has to get to that power to be a prospect. The history of high school position players from Mississippi is also pretty dismal, so I think Jordan is a prospect, but a longshot. They followed it up with Hawai’i reliever Jeremy Wu-Yelland (4), who has walked 55 guys in 88 career innings, almost all in relief; and Florida State lefty Shane Drohan (5), a fastball/changeup guy who went backward after going to Tallahassee and has walked 69 in 73.2 career innings."
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Post by ramireja on Jun 12, 2020 18:36:00 GMT -5
One of the telltale signs elite power weight transfer, as seen with Harper, Moncada, etc. fwiw, here's what Keith Law had to say about his swing -
"Boston went way off the highway with Nick Yorke (1), the only player taken in round one who wasn’t ranked on my Top 100. Yorke has a good swing, geared more for average than power, but he doesn’t have the range or arm for shortstop after a shoulder injury and is probably limited to second base in the long term. Even if the Red Sox really believe in his bat, he would almost certainly have been available at their next pick; I spoke to multiple teams who said they either didn’t have him in the top three rounds or deemed him unsignable for worth due to his commitment to Arizona.
The Red Sox didn’t have a second-round pick, and in the third round they took one of the most famous players in the draft in Blaze Jordan (3), a 17-year-old high school first baseman from Mississippi who puts on a great BP but has little game power because of a swing that is all hands, making no use of his lower half. He’s limited to first base, so he has to get to that power to be a prospect. The history of high school position players from Mississippi is also pretty dismal, so I think Jordan is a prospect, but a longshot. They followed it up with Hawai’i reliever Jeremy Wu-Yelland (4), who has walked 55 guys in 88 career innings, almost all in relief; and Florida State lefty Shane Drohan (5), a fastball/changeup guy who went backward after going to Tallahassee and has walked 69 in 73.2 career innings."
I literally posted this a few posts above, but just to repost because its relevant to this very topic. This is taken from Prospects Live data-driven big board which had an excellent analysis of Jordan:
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Post by geostorm on Jun 12, 2020 18:40:13 GMT -5
Thx ramireja and, apologies for missing that (as well as also seeing this c&p on another soxprospects thread, so, you're welcome to remove this "repeat")
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