Red Sox Notebook: Adalberto Mondesí not progressing, David Hamilton returns, Blaze Jordan cuts down on strikeouts
When the Red Sox acquired infielder Adalberto Mondesí, it was with the hopes he could provide depth at second base and shortstop.
Instead of being on the Sox active roster and providing much needed depth, Mondesí continues to rehab in Fort Myers.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom shed some light as to where Mondesí is at in his rehab.
“It's not that he's had a re-injury or anything like that,” said Bloom to MLB.com’s Ian Browne.
“It's more that we haven't really been able to get him past that plateau to where we can progress him into game activity. We've been working hard to get strength back in that leg. But there's been this recurrent soreness that we haven't really been able to completely knock out. So right now, we've eased off the activity to be able to do that, and hopefully we'll be able to progress it. It's really just getting through that plateau. If we're able to get through that to where he’s feeling good, then we can get into games, but we just haven’t gotten there yet,” added Bloom.
The Sox acquired the former Royals shortstop back in January, knowing he was still going to have to rehab from ACL surgery. Mondesí had surgery 13 months ago but it appears he’s still far from being ready to begin a true rehab assignment.
Bloom remains optimistic that the 27-year-old will play for the Red Sox this season.
“Yeah, I hope so. I mean, we have to see how this goes. When we have something, when we’re ready to have a game progression, we’ll update everybody. We aren’t there yet. I don’t know a timetable. Hopefully, as we progress him forward, we’ll be able to finally get over this hump.”
David Hamilton activated off the injured list
The WooSox were without David Hamilton for the last seven days as the infielder was dealing with a left-thumb sprain.
He was placed on the 7-day injured list after he injured his thumb after diving for a ball in the hole.
“He dove on a ball and his glove kind of stuck in the grass and the glove kind of rolled his thumb,” said Chad Tracy to BostonSportsJournal.com “He had some soreness in the ligament but has improved quickly.”
There was some optimism that Hamilton would be able to come off the injured list last Friday during the team’s home stand at Polar Park. Instead the WooSox waited until this week while they were on the road against the Norfolk Tides.
In his first start back off the injured list, Hamilton was penciled in at DH and went 2-for-4 with two walks and two runs Wednesday in the WooSox’s 13-5 on Wednesday night.
Blaze Jordan continues to rake
When scrolling through Twitter, you can usually find Red Sox prospect Blaze Jordan hitting homers over Greenville’s “mini monster” in left field.
He’s be showcasing what he might be able to do once he gets a chance to hit the ball over the Green Monster at Fenway Park.
Coming into Thursday night, Jordan has been sizzling at the plate for High-A Greenville Drive. He’s batting .313 with 17 doubles, one triple, seven homers and 38 RBI in just 54 games.
Jordan added to his homer total by mashing his eight blast to left center off of Greensboro Grasshoppers righty Braxton Ashcroft in the first inning Thursday night.
The 20-year-old also added a double (18th) and improved his average to .315 and .884 OPS.
Jordan is known for his YouTube tape measure homers as a teenager. Particularly a 395-foot blast as an 11-year-old in the Power Showcase in Arlington, Texas.
The former 2020 third-round pick has dramatically lowered his strikeouts this season. Last season, the right-handed slugger struck out at a 25.8% clip. This season, he’s cut that down to 14.8%
“The biggest thing for me has been my pitch selection and getting pitches to drive early in the count and not swinging at waste pitches,” Jordan said to Baseball Prospect Journal.
“I feel like that has been the biggest struggle that I had the last couple of years, swinging at pitches that I have not been able to drive. This year I feel like I have done a better job of that, and I am going to continue to improve in that area,” added Jordan.
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