Red Sox outfield prospect hits first home run of season for Low-A Salem

That was Bleis’ lone hit of the day, as Salem’s starting designated hitter went 1-for-4 with one walk and two strikeouts. Following Tuesday’s performance, the right-handed hitting Bleis is now batting .277/.324/.385 with two doubles, one triple, the one homer, eight RBIs, 13 runs scored, four walks, and 20 strikeouts in 15 games (71 plate appearances) with the Red Sox. He is also 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts.

On the other side of the ball, Tuesday marked Bleis’ fourth start of the year at designated hitter. The 6-foot, 170-pounder has also logged 44 innings in center and 52 innings in right field for Salem. He has yet to commit an error at either position and has registered two outfield assists (both in center) thus far.

Bleis, 19, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in Boston’s farm system and the No. 81 prospect in all of baseball. The Dominican Republic native originally signed with the Red Sox for $1.5 million as an international free agent coming out of San Pedro de Macoris in January 2021.

With only 91 games of pro ball (and just 15 for a full-season affiliate) under his belt, Bleis has already been tabbed by publications such as MLB Pipeline as the top international prospect Boston has had since Rafael Devers. SoxProspects, on the other hand, identifies Bleis as having “the highest upside of any Latin American prospect in the system.”

Considering the fact that he only turned 19 in March, the Red Sox will likely exhibit patience when it comes to Bleis’ development path. In other words, it would not be all that surprising if Bleis spent the entirety of the 2023 campaign with Salem as opposed to him making the jump to High-A Greenville at some point this summer.

Rogers impresses in latest start

Dalton Rogers made his third start of the season for Salem on Tuesday. The 22-year-old left-hander allowed just one hit and two walks to go along with eight strikeouts over five scoreless innings of work. Of the 90 pitches he threw, 54 went for strikes.

Though he did not factor into Tuesday’s decision, Rogers did lower his ERA on the year down to 2.79 across 9 2/3 innings pitched. The Southern Mississippi product was selected by the Red Sox with the 99th overall pick in last year’s amateur draft. He signed with the club for $447,500 and is currently ranked by SoxProspects as the No. 42 prospect in the organization.