Red Sox draft Blaze Jordan in third round

With the 89th pick in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft, the Red Sox selected corner infielder Blaze Jordan from DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, Mississippi.

Jordan is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound power hitter who can play first or third base. Last summer, he won the High School Home Run Derby with multiple 500-foot home runs at Progressive Park in Cleveland during MLB All-Star weekend. He was the top ranked high school player in the 2021 class, but reclassified to 2020. [...]

With the 89th pick in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft, the Red Sox selected corner infielder Blaze Jordan from DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, Mississippi.

Jordan is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound power hitter who can play first or third base. Last summer, he won the High School Home Run Derby with multiple 500-foot home runs at Progressive Park in Cleveland during MLB All-Star weekend. He was the top ranked high school player in the 2021 class, but reclassified to 2020. Jordan is just 17-years-old.

A day after selecting high school infielder Nick Yorke, who wasn’t projected to go in the first round, the Sox responded by taking one of the top high school players available. Jordan was the 42nd ranked prospect by MLB.com, 48th by Perfect Game, 50th in ESPN, 90th in Baseball America and 115th by Fangraphs. He was also the 2020 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year and an All-American from Under Armour and Perfect Game. He made a verbal commitment to Mississippi State

Jordan has been on baseball’s radar sine he was 11-years-old when he hit a 395-foot home run at the Texas Rangers’ stadium during a home run derby. He then hit a 500-foot homer at another derby when he was just 13. The early power made people compare Jordan to Bryce Harper.

Jordan played in just 13 games this spring due to coronavirus and batted .442. Last year, he hit .440 to go with 10 home runs in 37 games for DeSoto Central.

Due to coronavirus, the MLB draft has been cut from 40 to five rounds this year. The Red Sox lost their second-round pick by Major League Baseball due to stealing signs in 2018. They’ll finish up with two more picks in the fourth (No. 118) and fifth (No. 148) round.

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ