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I hesitate to leverage my reputation for prescient and on target commenting, but I have a theory. Blaze Jordan hit for power pretty effectively in AAA and here he is in MLB. But his power stroke is not here. His approach is 100% about making contact, with everything. He is hard to walk. His BABiP is low, so he makes a lot of weak contact. He fouls off a lot of pitches and apparently hits a lot that he can’t put good wood on and might be better off letting go on by.
So, does it make any sense that a guy makes it to the show and decides to abandon what got him here and adopt a completely different approach at the plate? That is absurd. I think the staff must have put him up to it or he would be doing what got him here. They must want him to focus on bat on ball for now. If that is the case, then maybe the organization is thinking about him long term more seriously than what I was thinking. More seriously than what anybody was thinking. On the farm, Mendoza doesn’t get any attention and Jesus Baez hasn’t played any 3B since Peoria, and even then not much. Maybe they are looking at Jordan manning 3B for a couple years and then see how things look then. They do have other stuff to worry about. I should mention that although his BABiP is low, his BA is 3rd behind Burly and Walker, just ahead of Wetherholt. It should go up if/when his BABiP goes up.
I think in part, this is the hitter Blaze used to be, which is why people were somewhat ho-hum about him. We were excited we got anything at all for a partial season of Matz, but Blaze was a contact-first bat with limited power – at least through most or all of last season. And it’s not like his base running or defense was/is anything to get excited about. He always has had the raw power, but it rarely showed up in games. Then, the staff at AAA worked with him (presumably), and he became an even better hitter with modest power. A really consistent hitter with some power. In my opinion, fighting for his life against MLB pitching which is far better than AAA, he’s reverted back to the approach that helped him survive in the Minors. That probably doesn’t maximize his potential, but it might make him a slightly below average MLB third baseman. That’s the best option we have there right now. Like you pointed out, Mendoza and Baez aren’t likely to be the future at 3B. Gurevitch might be next man up. But he just got to AA. So it’s Blaze for now. And he’s mostly ok. I like the ABs he takes. But hopefully he can slowly unlock some of that power again.
Baez has played a lot of SS though so he could still be in line for 3B. It may have more to do with allowing Ortiz to play 3B at Springfield lately. Not sure. I’m really not sure Ortiz will make it there.
I don’t know if Jordan’s play at 3B is a surprise to the Cardinals, but it is to me. I didn’t think he would be able to play 3B at the MLB level, but he can. He is more athletic than I thought, faster than I thought, better arm than I thought. He is not Arenado but he is not costing us games. He is 23 years old. I can see the Cardinals giving him some runway.
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