Blaze Jordan and Dalton Rogers sweep SAL Player of the Week honors at High-A Greenville
Two stars have shined bright down in Greenville this week.
For the first time in Drive history, both the South Atlantic League’s Batter and Pitcher of the Week awards have gone to a member of the Greenville Drive. Blaze Jordan took home the offensive honors as he batted .500 with three home runs, while Dalton Rogers tossed six no-hit innings en route to the pitching honors.
A child phenomenon due to his incredible raw power at the ripe age of 15, Jordan has continued to meet lofty expectations since garnering a $1.75 million signing bonus as a third-round pick. At just age 20, Jordan has displayed an impressive hit tool, batting .323 and posting a 138 wRC+ in 83 games since joining Boston’s high-A affiliate. In 58 games so far in 2023, Jordan has cut down on strikeouts significantly, decreasing his K% from 25.5 to just 14.1 so far this year. A slight increase in FB% and decrease in GB% have done wonders for Jordan as he continues to mash Single-A+ pitching. It’s fair to predict a promotion could be coming shortly for the big third baseman, as he seems more than ready to take the major leap up to Double-A Portland.
Despite both players being picked in the third round, lefty Dalton Rogers was far less known than Jordan when the Red Sox selected him 99th overall from Southern Mississippi. After top prospect and Drive teammate Roman Anthony received a massive $2.5 million bonus in the second compensation round, the Red Sox went under slot with Rogers, as he agreed on a $447,500 bonus. Since then, the 22-year-old has pitched brilliantly, posting a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts with the Drive, while striking out over 12 batters per nine innings. Soxprospects.com ranks Rogers as the team’s 30th-ranked prospect and wrote highly of his fastball/changeup combo and deceptive delivery. While it seems unlikely that Rogers will make it to Portland this year (He started the year in Single-A Salem), the Red Sox have been aggressive in promoting their pitching prospects so far in 2023. If Rogers continues his excellence on the bump, he could be the next.
While it’s been an up-and-down year for the big league club, a number of prospects in the Red Sox organization have broken out. For a farm system left depleted after Dave Dombrowski’s departure in 2020, credit should be given to Chaim Bloom and the front office for creating a deep system with intriguing players. As for Jordan and Rogers, both seem like potential major-league contributors down the road, and it remains to be seen how their development will play out.
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