Red Sox power-hitting prospect Blaze Jordan homers, drives in 4 runs to extend hitting streak with High-A Greenville

Red Sox infield prospect Blaze Jordan enjoyed a productive night at the plate in High-A Greenville’s extra-inning 6-5 loss to the Greensboro Grasshoppers at Fluor Field on Thursday.

Batting third and starting at first base for the Drive, Jordan went 2-for-5 with a double, a home run, four RBIs, a run scored, and a strikeout. The right-handed hitter crushed his eighth homer of the season to open the scoring in the first inning and drove in pair with a two-run double in the third. He then plated his fourth and final run of the night with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the fifth.

With two outs and a runner at third base representing the potential tying run in the 10th inning, Jordan had a chance to pull Greenville back even with Greensboro. But he struck out swinging on four pitches as the Drive fell to 33-27 on the season.

By recording two hits on Thursday, Jordan extended his hitting streak to six games. He is now batting .333/.429/.563 in the month of June. On the 2023 campaign as a whole, the 20-year-old slugger has slashed a stout .315/.368/.516 with 18 doubles, one triple, eight home runs, 42 RBIs, 33 runs scored, one stolen base, 18 walks, and 36 strikeouts in 55 games (242 plate appearances) for the Drive.

Among the top hitters in the South Atlantic League, Jordan ranks second in total bases (113), third in extra-base hits (27), fourth in batting average, 19th in on-base percentage, eighth in slugging percentage, ninth in OPS (.884), 16th in isolated power (.201), and third in strikeout rate (14.9 percent), per MiLB.com’s leaderboards.

On the other side of the ball, Jordan made his 30th start of the season at first base on Thursday night. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder has also made 23 starts at third base. Between the two infield corners, he has committed three errors (all at third) in 257 total defensive chances.

Originally selected by the Red Sox in the third round (89th overall pick) in the 2020 amateur draft out of DeSoto Central High School (Miss.), Jordan is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 16 prospect in the organization. Despite being in his third full professional season, the Southaven native is still among the youngest position players to swing a bat at the High-A level this year. That is understandable since he reclassified back in 2019 in order to graduate from high school a year early.

Given how well he has performed lately, Jordan — who does not turn 23 until December — could soon be nearing a promotion to Double-A Portland. That may be contingent on things that are out of his control, but if Jordan continues to produce, the Red Sox will find a way to make it happen.

(Picture of Blaze Jordan: Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive)

Red Sox pitching prospect Dalton Rogers tosses 6 scoreless, no-hit innings for High-A Greenville

Red Sox pitching prospect Dalton Rogers put together one of the best starts of his young career for High-A Greenville on Wednesday night.

Going up against the Greensboro Grasshoppers at Fluor Field, Rogers struck out 11 and walked only one over six scoreless, no-hit innings. The right-hander took a perfect game bid into the fourth before issuing a two-out walk to Will Matthiessen. He then retired seven of the last eight batters he faced.

Finishing with 78 pitches (50 strikes), Rogers induced 17 swings-and-misses, the third-most for any pitcher at the High-A level on Wednesday. The 22-year-old also earned his first winning decision with Greenville as the Drive went on to defeat the Grasshoppers by a final score of 5-2.

In four starts for the Drive now, Rogers has posted a 2.75 ERA and 1.07 WHP with 27 strikeouts to 13 walks across 19 2/3 innings in which he has held opposing hitters to a .121 batting average against. This comes after he forged a 2.49 ERA in six starts (21 2/3 innings) to start the season with Low-A Salem and was promoted to Greenville in late May.

Rogers was selected by the Red Sox in the third round (99th overall pick) of last year’s amateur draft out of Southern Mississippi. A native of the Magnolia state himself, Rogers signed with the club for $447,500. He is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 26 prospect in Boston’s farm system, which ranks ninth among pitchers in the organization.

Standing at 5-foot-11 and 172 pounds, Rogers throws from a three-quarters arm slot and operates with a three-pitch mix that consists of a 93-94 mph fastball that tops out at 96 mph, an 81-83 mph changeup, and an 82-84 mph slider. As indicated in his Baseball America scouting report, Rogers’ command of the strike zone remains a work in progress, so that will be something to monitor moving forward.

Rogers, who does not turn 23 until next January, is one of five members of the Red Sox’ 2022 draft class on Greenville’s active roster. Fellow lefty Nathan Landry, right-handers Isaac Coffey and Alex Hoppe, and recently-promoted outfielder Roman Anthony are the others.

(Picture of Dalton Rogers via the Greenville Drive)

Red Sox promote top outfield prospect Roman Anthony to High-A Greenville

The Red Sox have promoted outfield prospect Roman Anthony from Low-A Salem to High-A Greenville, per the club’s minor-league transactions log.

Anthony, 19, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 4 prospect in Boston’s farm system. The Red Sox originally selected the Florida native in the second round of last year’s draft out of Stoneman Douglas High School. He forwent his commitment to Mississippi by signing with the club for $2.5 million.

In 42 games with Salem this season, Anthony batted .228/.376/.316 with nine doubles, one triple, one home run, 18 RBIs, 27 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, 38 walks, and 18 strikeouts over 202 plate appearances. While that slash line is far from eye-popping, the left-handed hitter has caught the attention of evaluators thanks in part to his under-the-hood numbers.

As highlighted by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier last week, Anthony has a sound approach at the plate when it comes to pitch recognition and swing decisions. He has also shown that he can hit the ball hard, but his production in that regard has been weighed down by a 49.2 ground-ball rate this year. As such, he is working to put the ball in the air on a more frequent basis.

“He looks like he’s been in pro ball for multiple years versus a guy who’s getting his first full taste of full-season ball,” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham said of Anthony in a recent conversation with Speier. “If you can have those foundational areas as a hitter and you hit the ball hard, you’d like to think it will eventually lead to more baseball-card-type success versus some of the back-end numbers that he’s shown a lot of success with.”

On the other side of the ball, Anthony saw playing time at all three outfield positions for Sale. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder logged nine innings in left, 156 innings in center, and 127 innings in right. He committed just two errors in 61 defensive chances and recorded two outfield assists.

Anthony, who does not turn 20 until next May, becomes the latest member of Boston’s 2022 draft class to make the jump from Salem to Greenville this season, joining the likes of left-handers Dalton Rogers and Nathan Landry. With the Drive, Anthony will join a crowded outfield mix that already includes Max Ferguson, Miguel Ugueto, Bryan Gonzalez, Nick Decker, Eduardo Lopez, and Kier Meredith.

(Picture of Roman Anthony: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Costly errors come back to bite Red Sox in rain-soaked 4-3 loss to Rockies

The Red Sox opened a three-game series against the Rockies in disappointing fashion on Monday night. Boston fell to Colorado by a final score of 4-3 in a rain-filled 10 innings at Fenway Park to drop below .500 on the season at 33-34.

With old friend Connor Seabold starting for the Rockies, the Red Sox had a golden opportunity to strike first in the first inning. Jarren Duran, Alex Verdugo, and Justin Turner led off the bottom half of the frame with three consecutive singles to fill the bases with no outs.

Though it already appeared as if they had Seabold on the ropes, the Red Sox got nothing out of it. Rafael Devers grounded into a 1-2-3 double play chasing a first-pitch changeup and tapping a comebacker back to Seabold, who then fanned Adam Duvall on five pitches to escape the jam unscathed.

Seabold continued to put up zeroes from there, as did his counterpart in James Paxton. Making his sixth start of the season for the Sox, Paxton allowed just one unearned run on four hits and one walk to go along with eight strikeouts over six-plus strong innings of work.

After giving up a leadoff double to the very first batter he faced in Jurickson Profar, Paxton settled into a nice groove. The veteran left-hander stranded Profar at third base and then retired seven straight Rockies before yielding a one-out double to Ryan McMahon in the top of the fourth.

With two outs in the inning, it seemed like Paxton was going to strand another runner in scoring position when he got Randal Grichuk to hit a routine grounder to shortstop Enrique Hernandez. Hernandez, however, bounced his throw to first and the ball got past Triston Casas, which allowed McMahon to score all the way from second to put the Rockies up, 1-0.

For Hernandez, it was his major-league-leading 14th error of the season, with 12 of those coming on throws. Paxton proved to be unaffected by the sloppy play, however, as that was the only run he surrendered in yet another impressive performance.

Finishing with 98 pitches (70 strikes), Paxton induced 16 swings-and-misses while mixing in a 94-98 mph four-seam fastball as well as a curveball, cutter, and changeup. The 34-year-old southpaw did not factor into Monday’s decision, though he did lower his ERA on the season to 3.09.

With Paxton’s night done, the Boston bats finally got to Seabold in the latter half of the sixth. After drawing a one-out walk, Verdugo came in to score all the way from first on a hard-hit, RBI double off the bat of Turner to knot the score at 1-1. Despite having a runner in scoring position with only one out in the inning, both Devers (strikeout) and Duvall (groundout) were retired to extinguish the threat.

Following a scoreless top of the seventh from Josh Winckowski, Christian Arroyo quickly untied the contest by taking lefty reliever Brent Suter 376 feet over the Green Monster for his second home run of the season. The Red Sox took a 2-1 lead on Arroyo’s solo shot, but the Rockies responded in the eighth by tagging Winckowski for a crucial run when Profar ripped a one-out double and — after a two-out walk — scored from second on a game-tying single from Elias Diaz.

The two sides were deadlocked at 2-2 going into the bottom of the eighth. Turner drew a two-out walk off Pierce Johnson to put the go-ahead run on base for Devers, who promptly laced a 105.8 mph line drive that appeared to be headed towards the Red Sox bullpen. But Rockies right fielder Nolan Jones made a sensational leaping catch against the fence to rob Devers of a potential two-run homer.

According to Baseball Savant, Devers’ blast had an expected batting average of .870 and would have been a home run in seven of 30 MLB ballparks, including Fenway Park had Jones not robbed him. Alas, that is what happened and the score remained tied heading into the ninth. Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless top half, and Daniel Bard — making his first-ever appearance at Fenway as a visiting pitcher — followed suit in the bottom half to send this one into extras.

Nick Pivetta came on for the 10th and recorded two quick outs before intentionally walking McMahaon to put runners at first and second. He then unintentionally walked Diaz to fill the bases and issued a five-pitch free pass to Grichuk, allowing the automatic runner (Mike Moustakas) to score.

That sequence of events prompted Red Sox manager Alex Cora to pull Pivetta in favor of lefty Joe Jacques, who was making his big-league debut. Jacques, in turn, induced what had the makings to be an inning-ending groundout to Jones. But Casas could not field the ball cleanly and was late with his throw to first. As a result, Jones reached base safely while McMahon scored an important insurance run on Casas’ fielding error.

At that point, the skies above Fenway began to open and an 89-minute rain delay commenced. On the other side of the lengthy break, the Red Sox got one of those runs back when Connor Wong scored on a Rob Refsnyder groundout. That was as close as they would get, though, as Verdugo grounded into a game-ending, 5-6-3 double play.

Next up: Crawford vs. Anderson

The Red Sox will look to even the series against the Rockies on Tuesday night. Kutter Crawford is slated to get the start for Boston while Colorado will counter with fellow righty Chase Anderson.

First pitch from Fenway Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Triston Casas: Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox’ Yordanny Monegro named Florida Complex League Pitcher of the Week

Red Sox pitching prospect Yordanny Monegro has been named the Florida Complex League Pitcher of the Week for the week of June 5-11, Minor League Baseball announced on Monday.

Monegro had a stellar season debut for the FCL Red Sox last Monday, striking out eight over five scoreless, perfect innings in a 7-2 win over the FCL Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The right-hander retired all 15 batters he faced to pick up his first winning decision of the year.

Fresh off earning FCL Pitcher of the Week honors, Monegro made his second start of the season on Monday. Going up against the FCL Rays at Charlotte Sports Park in Port Charlotte this time around, the 20-year-old hurler allowed just one earned run on two hits, two walks, and one hit batsman to go along with six strikeouts across five innings of work in an 11-1 victory.

So, through his first two starts for the FCL Red Sox this season, Monegro is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA and 0.40 WHIP. He has struck out 14 and walked only two over 10 innings in which he has held opposing hitters to a .065 batting average against.

Monegro originally signed with Boston for $35,000 as an international free agent coming out of the Dominican Republic in February 2020. Though the Santo Domingo native is not yet regarded by publications such as Baseball America or MLB Pipeline as one of the Sox’ top pitching prospects, he did receive some praise from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen recently.

Longenhagen ranked Monegro as his No. 25 Red Sox prospect on Monday, noting that the 6-foot-4, 180-pound righty “was the best Red Sox pitching prospect” he saw during extended spring training looks in Florida.

“He’s a little older than the typical arm from the complex group, but he’s still projectable at a high-waited 6-foot-4,” Longenhagen wrote. “He sat 91-94 mph and was up to 95, with vertical ride and command that will surely allow him to have success at the lowest pro levels. He has a clean, direct line to the plate and lovely hip/shoulder separation that, along with his frame, portends more velocity.

“An upper-70s curveball with solid average depth and a power-action changeup that he throws as hard as 91 mph round out the repertoire,” added Longenhagen. “It’s a starter’s mix with a starter’s frame, delivery, and strike-throwing. His ceiling will be dictated by how much velo he and the Red Sox can develop, and he’s far enough away from the bigs that it has to alter how he’s valued here, but Monegro has fourth starter upside.”

As noted by Longenhagen, Monegro — who does not turn 21 until October — is slightly older for his level since he spent the entirety of the 2022 campaign in the Florida Complex League as well. Taking that into consideration, one has to wonder if Monegro could soon be in line for a promotion to Low-A Salem, where he would get his first taste of full season ball.

(Picture of Yordanny Monegro: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)

Kiké Hernández comes through with game-winning RBI single as Red Sox take series from Yankees with 3-2 victory in extras

The Red Sox ended their first series of the season against the Yankees the same way they started it: with a 3-2 win. In need of a victory to avoid dropping a fourth straight series, Boston scratched and clawed its way to a hard-fought, one-run triumph over New York on Sunday night to get back to .500 at 33-33 on the season.

With over 46,000 on hand at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox drew first blood against Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt in the second inning. To lead off the top half of the frame, Justin Turner took Schmidt 373 feet to right-center field for his eighth home run of the year.

Despite falling behind by a run early on, it did not take the Yankees long to respond. Brayan Bello, making his 10th start of the season for the Sox, worked a 1-2-3 first inning but ran into some trouble in the bottom of the second by issuing a leadoff walk to Josh Donaldson and a two-out ground-rule double to Billy McKinney.

Jose Trevino came to the plate with two outs and runners at second and third. Bello got Trevino to hit what looked to be a routine grounder up the middle, but the ball actually deflected off the second-base bag, eluding an awaiting Enrique Hernandez and rolling all the way to shallow center field. As a result, both Donaldson and McKinney scored to give New York its first lead of the night at 2-1.

A half-inning later, more weirdness occurred on the base paths. After reaching base via a one-out single, Jarren Duran was prepared to take off for second when Alex Verdugo ripped a groundball to the right side of the infield. Incidentally, the ball struck Duran on his way to second base and he was ruled out as a result.

Bello, meanwhile, settled in after a somewhat rocky second inning. The right-hander retired 14 of the final 17 final batters he faced and wound up allowing just the two runs on three hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts over seven strong innings of work.

Finishing with 98 pitches (63 strikes), Bello induced seven swings-and-misses while averaging 93.8 mph and topping out at 96.7 mph with his four-seam fastball. The 24-year-old did not factor into Sunday’s decision, but he did lower his ERA on the season to 3.78.

With Bello’s night done, the Red Sox lineup went back to work in the top of the eighth. Opposed by Yankees reliever Michael King, Hernandez led off with a single to left field and immediately advanced to second after second baseman Gleyber Torres got careless and let the throw back to the infield get by him.

Hernandez took advantage of the error by moving up into scoring position and Reese McGuire followed by drawing a five-pitch walk. Pablo Reyes then laid down a nicely-placed sacrifice bunt to advance both runners an additional 90 feet and set the stage for Duran, who knotted things up at 2-2 by plating Hernandez from third on an RBI groundout to the right side.

Following scoreless innings out of the bullpen from Nick Pivetta and Kenley Jansen, the Red Sox found themselves in extras for the first time since April 29. To lead off the top of the 10th, Triston Casas advanced the pinch-running Adam Duvall up to third base on a hard-hit groundout off Ron Marinaccio.

With the possible go-ahead run just 90 feet away and the Yankees infield playing in, Hernandez delivered by lacing a 103.3 mph single past an outstretched Anthony Volpe at shortstop. Duvall easily scored from third to put the Sox back up, 3-2, going into the bottom of the 10th.

Having already used Jansen, Red Sox manager Alex Cora tasked Chris Martin with getting the three most important outs of the night. Martin, in turn, allowed the potential tying run to move up to third on a fly out before punching out both Trevino and Volpe to notch his first save of 2023.

Next up: Back home to host the Rockies

On the heels of a 3-3 road trip, the Red Sox will return home and welcome the Colorado Rockies into town for the start of six-game homestand at Fenway Park.

In Monday night’s series opener, veteran left-hander James Paxton will get the start for Boston while Colorado will counter by sending former Red Sox farmhand Connor Seabold to the hill against his old team.

First pitch from Fenway Park on Monday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.

(Picture of Enrique Hernandez: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Tanner Houck fires 6 strong innings, but Red Sox go down quietly in 3-1 loss to Yankees

The Red Sox received a strong outing from Tanner Houck, but were held to just one run and dropped the middle game of their three-game set against the Yankees as a result. Boston fell to New York by a final score of 3-1 at Yankee Stadium to drop back to under .500 at 32-33 on the season.

Houck pitched well in his 12th start of the year for the Sox. The right-hander allowed two earned runs on three hits, one walk, and one hit batsman to go along with six strikeouts over six innings of work.

After retiring the first nine batters he faced, though, Houck surrendered a leadoff home run to Gleyber Torres, who laced a first-pitch sinker 359 feet into the right field seats to open the scoring for the Yankees.

It took until the sixth inning for the Red Sox to respond. After leaving six runners on base through the first five frames, Rafael Devers led off the top of the sixth by taking Yankees starter Domingo German 417 feet deep to right-center field for his 15th home run of the season and his second in as many nights.

Devers’ 108.4 mph blast tied the score at 1-1. Adam Duvall followed with a single — his first hit since returning from the injured list on Friday — and stolen base, but he, too, was stranded in scoring position as Triston Casas and Christian Arroyo both struck out while Reese McGuire flew out to extinguish the threat.

Houck came back out for the latter half of the sixth and induced two quick outs before serving up a go-ahead solo shot to Willie Calhoun on a 1-2, 88.7 mph splitter at the bottom of the zone. Calhoun’s homer barely cleared the right-field fence, but it travelled far enough to put the Yankees back up, 2-1, heading into the seventh.

Finishing with 93 pitches (56 strikes), Houck induced 14 swings-and-misses while mixing in his slider, sinker, splitter, four-seamer, and cutter. Despite lowering his ERA on the season down to 5.23 on Saturday, the 26-year-old hurler was charged with the losing decision.

With Houck’s night done, Brennan Bernardino received the first call out of the Boston bullpen from manager Alex Cora. Bernardino gave up a leadoff single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who moved up to second base on a groundout. Josh Winckowski was then brought in to face Kyle Higashioka with two outs in the inning.

On the first pitch he saw from Winckowski, Higashioka ripped a sharp groundball up the middle. Arroyo, the second baseman, attempted to field the ball by diving for it, but it instead nicked off his glove and rolled away. As a result, Kiner-Falefa was able to score all the way from second since Arroyo’s throw back towards home plate did not have much behind it.

That sequence of events provided New York with some valuable insurance in the form of a 3-1 lead. Duvall led off the eighth by getting plunked by Tommy Kahnle, but he failed to move past first.

Down to their final three outs in the ninth, Alex Verdugo laced a one-out single off Yankees closer Clay Holmes to bring the tying run to the plate. Masataka Yoshida then punched out before Justin Turner grounded out to end it in two hours and 29 minutes.

All told, the Red Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position on Saturday and left 11 runners on base as a team. They have won two of their last eight games and are averaging 2.38 runs per game over that stretch.

Devers passes Williams

Devers’ sixth-inning homer was the 21st of his career against the Yankees. With it, the 26-year-old slugger broke a tie with Ted Williams for the most against New York by a Red Sox player before turning 27.

Next up: Bello gets ball in rubber match

As the Red Sox look to avoid falling two games under .500 for the first time since April 14, they will send Brayan Bello to the mound in Sunday night’s series finale. The Yankees will counter with fellow right-hander Clarke Schmidt.

First pitch from Yankee Stadium is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on ESPN.

(Picture of Tanner Houck: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Former Red Sox catcher Jorge Alfaro signs minor-league deal with Rockies

Exactly one week after being granted his release from the Red Sox organization, veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro has found a new home.

Alfaro signed a minor-league contract with the Rockies on Saturday, per the club’s transactions log. The soon-to-be 30-year-old backstop (his birthday is on Sunday) has been assigned to Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M. and is in the Isotopes’ starting lineup for their game against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.

Alfaro originally inked a minors pact with the Red Sox in January but did not make Boston’s Opening Day roster out of spring training. The right-handed hitter instead began the season with Triple-A Worcester, batting a stout .320/.366/.520 with 13 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 30 RBIs, 22 runs scored, four stolen bases, nine walks, and 43 strikeouts in 43 games (191 plate appearances) for the WooSox.

Despite the strong offensive performance, there were and still are some concerns when it comes to Alfaro’s defense at catcher. The 6-foot-2, 249-foot backstop logged 225 1/3 innings behind the plate for Worcester, allowing six passed balls and throwing out just five of 35 would-be base stealers. He also made two starts at first base, but was not an apparent fit at the position for Boston.

Because the Red Sox expressed confidence in their current catching tandem of Connor Wong and Reese McGuire, Alfaro triggered the opt-out clause in his contract last Thursday. As previously mentioned, it did not take the native Colombian all that long to find a new landing spot.

With the Rockies, Alfaro will look to break back in at the big-league level after spending the 2022 season with the Padres. Colorado currently carries two catchers (Elias Diaz and Austin Wynns) on its 26-man roster and three additional catchers (Daniel Cope, Jonathan Morales, and Brian Serven) on its Triple-A roster.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, already addressed Alfaro’s departure from the organization by promoting catching prospect Stephen Scott to Worcester on Friday. Scott joins Caleb Hamilton and Ronaldo Hernandez in making up Boston’s catching depth at the top flight of the minors.

(Picture of Jorge Alfaro: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Top Red Sox prospect Miguel Bleis to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery

Top Red Sox outfield prospect Miguel Bleis has a left shoulder subluxation that will require him to undergo season-ending surgery, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. Chris Henrique of the Boston Sports Journal was first to report his news.

Bleis strained his left shoulder while swinging at a pitch in the eighth inning of Low-A Salem’s 3-2 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans back on May 30. He was immediately taken out of the contest and has not appeared in an affiliated game since.

Instead, Bleis was placed on the minor-league injured list on June 1 and was sent to Fort Myers, Fla. to rehab. In a recent conversation with The Athletic’s Chad Jennings, Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham indicated that Bleis was “focusing on building strength rather than baseball at the moment.”

Bleis, 19, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect in Boston’s farm system and the No. 86 prospect in the sport. The Red Sox originally signed the Dominican Republic native for $1.5 million in January 2021, making him the highest-paid member of the club’s international signing class that year.

After a solid pro debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2021, Bleis really burst onto the scene last season. The right-handed hitter broke out to the tune of a .301/.353/.543 slash line with five home runs, 27 RBIs, 28 runs scored, and 18 stolen bases in 40 Florida Complex League games. He also led Boston’s rookie-level affiliate in outfield assists with five.

On the heels of such an impressive campaign, Bleis was tabbed by MLB Pipeline as the Red Sox’ best international prospect since Rafael Devers. He entered the 2023 season as a consensus top-100 prospect and made some waves during spring training by singling off Alek Manoah and throwing out Brandon Belt at home plate in a Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays on March 13.

Bleis broke camp with Salem in April and had gotten off to a relatively slow start, batting just .230/.282/.325 with three doubles, three triples, one home run, 16 RBIs, 18 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, 10 walks, and 38 strikeouts over 31 games (142 plate appearances) in his first exposure to full-season ball.

On the other side of the ball, Bleis saw playing time in center and right field for Salem. The 6-foot, 170-pounder logged 92 innings at the former and 110 innings at the latter while racking up four outfield assists and committing just one error in 47 defensive chances between the two positions.

Though it is still too early to determine a recovery timetable for Bleis — who does not turn 20 until next March — it’s certainly possible that this forthcoming surgery will alter his developmental timeline to at least some degree.

(Picture of Miguel Bleis: Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Rafael Devers homers off Gerrit Cole for seventh time as Red Sox hold on to take opener from Yankees, 3-2

In their first of 13 meetings this season, the Red Sox made a statement against the Yankees in front of a sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium on Friday night. Behind a strong start from Garrett Whitlock and home runs from Rafael Devers and Enrique Hernandez, Boston held on for a 3-2 win over New York to get back to .500 at 32-32 on the year.

Going up against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, the Sox drew first blood in the top of the fourth inning. After being held in check through the first three frames, Devers ripped a one-out ground-rule double over the right-center field wall. Adam Duvall fanned for the second time in as may trips to the plate, but Triston Casas came through by plating Devers on a hard-hit RBI single.

Two innings later, Devers struck again. In familiar fashion, the slugging third baseman took a first-pitch changeup at the bottom of the zone from Cole and deposited it 405 feet into the visitors’ bullpen to put Boston up, 2-0. The towering, 106.2 mph solo shot was Devers’ 14th big fly of the season and the seventh of his career off Cole.

Whitlock, meanwhile, was in the midst of his sixth start of the year for the Red Sox. Facing the Yankees for the first time in his career as a starter, the right-hander allowed just two runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk to go along with six strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings of work.

After maneuvering his way around some traffic through the first five innings, Whitlock served up a 448-foot leadoff homer to Josh Donaldson to begin things in the sixth. Though the Yankees trimmed the deficit in half of Donaldson’s solo blast, the Red Sox wasted little time in getting that run back in the seventh.

Having already chased Cole out of the game, the Sox got to reliever Albert Abreu. Connor Wong struck out for the first out of the inning, but Hernandez cranked a solo shot down the left field line for his sixth homer of the year. The 391-foot blast left Hernandez’s bat at 104.3 mph and gave Boston a 3-1 advantage.

Whitlock came back out for the latter half of the seventh and issued a leadoff single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a groundball that was mishandled by second baseman Christian Arroyo. Kiner-Falefa, who was thrown out by Wong on a steal attempt in the second inning, promptly stole second base and advanced to third as Wong’s off-target pickoff attempt skipped into center field.

Kiner-Falefa took advantage of more sloppy play from the Red Sox moments later, this time scoring from third when Whitlock spiked ball four to the pinch-hitting Gleyber Torres into the dirt. Whitlock was then given the hook for Nick Pivetta, who stranded the lone runner he inherited by inducing two quick outs to preserve Boston’s one-run lead.

Finishing with 88 pitches (63 strikes), Whitlock induced 10 of his 18 swings-and-misses with his sweeper, a pitch he threw 26 times. The 26-year-old also averaged 94 mph and topped out at 96.3 mph with his sinker, a pitch he threw 43 times. He ultimately picked up the winning decision while lowering his ERA on the season down to 4.78.

Pivetta was only needed to record the final two outs of the seventh. Chris Martin continued that trend out of the bullpen by making quick work of the Yankees in the eighth to pave the way for closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth.

Jansen retired Jake Bauers and Kiner-Falefa on five pitches for the first two outs of the inning. Back-to-back singles from Billy McKinney and Torres made things interesting, but Jansen rallied and notched his 14th save of the year by getting Anthony Volpe to pop out to end it in a swift two hours and 28 minutes.

Duvall returns from injured list

After missing the last 54 games with a fractured left wrist, Adam Duvall returned to the Red Sox lineup on Friday. Batting fifth and starting in center field, the 34-year-old slugger went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts.

Next up: Houck vs. German

The Red Sox will look to take their first series of the season from the Yankees on Saturday night. Tanner Houck will get the start for Boston while New York will counter with fellow right-hander Domingo German.

First pitch from Yankee Stadium is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. eastern time on FOX.

(Picture of Rafael Devers: Elsa/Getty Images)