The player I decided to highlight for the first base 11-20 section was the 2020 draft selectee Blaze Jordan. Listed recently at 6’2” and 220 pounds on Perfect Game, Blaze Jordan has taken full advantage of his stature to optimize his power early on in his prep career. Jordan was selected by the Boston Red Sox with the 89th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft out of Desoto High School in Mississippi. A four-year varsity letterman in high school, he ended his career with a .440 batting average, 33 doubles, and 19 home runs. Jordan was able to top off his illustrious career with a “Gatorade Mississippi Baseball Player of the Year” award his senior year.

Ranked the #1 player in the state of Mississippi his senior year, Blaze Jordan first went viral for his 400-foot moonshot at Globe Life Park at the age of eleven. Two years later footage captured Jordan hitting multiple 500-foot home runs at a showcase. The video footage has made Blaze Jordan a household name in the amateur scene for a handful of years before he was even drafted.

Listed below are MLB.com’s predictive scouting grades for Blaze Jordan:

Hit-45

Run- 40

Field-45

Power-60

Arm-50

Overall-45

Despite his massive raw power, there are certainly some holes in Jordan’s game. He will need to continue working on making more consistent contact and better identifying breaking balls. He does not run well and his glove/arm will most likely limit him to first base or a corner outfielder spot (maybe). Playing against older competition in the summer ball circuit has certainly exposed some of his weaker areas. This does not compare to his high school career where he could get by on his raw talent alone.

During this Covid-ridden year, Jordan spent his entire summer working out in his home state of Mississippi after the cancelation of the MiLB season. He then traveled to the Red Sox facilities this Fall for instructional league in Fort Myers, Florida. If he can find a way to improve his plate recognition and contact woes, we could be looking at a future middle of the order bat for years to come in Boston. It would be misleading not to acknowledge how raw the young prospect’s current game is right now though. We will have a much better idea of who Blaze Jordan is as a prospect a year from now when he finally gets his feet wet in a professional season.