Red Sox outfield prospect Miguel Bleis enters 2024 stronger and focused on doing ‘damage’ at the plate
Red Sox outfield prospect Miguel Bleis entered last season as a top 100-prospect, No. 88 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. Unfortunately for the young slugger, he was limited to just 31 games following undergoing surgery in June for a left shoulder subluxation.
Bleis batted just .230 with one homer, 16 RBIs, 11 stolen bases, .282 OBP and a .607 OPS last year.
The 20-year-old enters the 2024 season healthy after transforming his body during rehab. Bleis added 33 pounds to his body frame; he is not listed at 6-foot-2, 203 pounds.
“When I was doing my rehab, I needed to get stronger. I needed to get my arm stronger. And that’s when everything started,” Bleis said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez.
Three months following surgery, Bleis began working out in the weight room, lifting weights and adding strength.
“I never stopped lifting weights with my right arm,” he said. “But with the left one, I started doing slow rotations and all of that. And after the third month, I was cleared to lift some weights.”
The added muscle to his frame should help him hit for more power at the plate. Baseball America ranked his power grade at 65 entering 2023.
“I think when you gain weight and muscle, everything gets easier (with generating power),” Bleis said. “When you don’t have that power, sometimes you tend to change your mechanics at the plate and you try to generate more power from other sources. So for me getting bigger, it definitely helps me to keep it simple.”
Baseball America ranks Bleis as the organization’s No. 5 prospect.
“Bleis carries a significant amount of bust risk in his profile but also a ceiling unrivaled in the system. After his lost 2023 campaign, assuming a return to health, he should open 2024 back in Salem, but with a chance to reach High-A Greenville by the end of the year,” wrote BA.
Bleis’ main goal coming into this season is to stay healthy. He also wants to focus on controlling the strike zone.
“Everybody knows that sometimes I’m overly-aggressive. That’s not a secret for anybody,” he said. “But yeah, for this year, my focus is going to be to get one pitch I can do damage with, get one pitch in the zone that I can really do damage with, and not chasing pitches.”
