FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox prospect Miguel Bleis entered 2023 ranked No. 88 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. But the exciting center fielder, then 19, was limited to only 31 games because he underwent surgery in June for a left shoulder subluxation.
He batted only .230 with a .282 on-base percentage and .325 slugging percentage in 142 plate appearances for Low-A Salem.
“It was a difficult year,” Bleis said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez on Tuesday at JetBlue Park. “There’s so many expectations when you’re a prospect and all the eyes are on you and you want to perform. So it was a little bit frustrating for me not to be able to compete the whole year. But at the same time, I see the positive side of it. I realized my body wasn’t strong enough. So that’s what I worked on during my rehab and offseason — to prepare my body to be able to compete for a full year here in the U.S. So now I feel like I’m in a better position than I was last year. And hopefully everything will go well this year.”
Bleis transformed his body during his rehab. He’s listed at 6-feet, 170 pounds. But Bleis said he’s now approximately 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,” he said.
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Baseball America ranks Bleis, who turned 20 on March 1, Boston’s No. 5 prospect entering 2024. MassLive ranks him No. 4 on its Top 25 Red Sox prospect list.
An MLB scout told MassLive about Bleis: “Injury proneness is a concern; yet very young still with tools across the board to develop a power-speed package with uber athleticism. Overall feel for the game with sound defensive skills and instincts in center field. … Hard contact stands out. Compact stroke with the chance to supply plus contact to project a ceiling of 25-plus homer power in center field or right field. Yet he must be patient making up for lost time and developing his strike zone (approach) to upgrade strikeout/walk ratio.”
BLEIS IN 2022:
Red Sox center field prospect Miguel Bleis in 2022. (Christopher Smith, MassLive.com)
BLEIS IN 2024:
Miguel Bleis during batting practice at the 2024 Spring Breakout Game. (Christopher Smith)Christopher Smith
Bleis was placed on the IL after straining his shoulder on a swing May 31. But he had issues with his shoulder throughout the first couple months of the season.
“That was something I was dealing with the whole year,” Bleis said.
He said his shoulder felt like it would “pop out” or “dislocate” every time he swung and missed.
“We tried to make it stronger in the gym but it wasn’t the case so we had to go the surgery route,” Bleis said. “So yeah, I played pretty much the whole year with that problem until I couldn’t anymore.”
He began fully working out in the weight room about three months after the surgery.
“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 muscle that he has added should help him hit for power. Baseball America ranks his power, run, field and arm tools all 60 (plus) on the 20-80 grading scale. It actually had his power graded 65 entering ‘23.
“I think when you gain weight and muscle, everything gets easier (with generating power),” he 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.”
He said he still feels he has the same quickness and burst of speed on the base paths and in the outfield despite carrying more weight.
“I feel like the range in the outfield is still the same, if not more,” he said.
He was at the JetBlue Park complex for most of his rehab. He worked out at the Dominican Academy when he returned home for a couple of weeks to visit his family.
“The nutritionist here helped me a lot,” he said. “I would drink protein shakes every time I would work out and every time I finished my workouts. So yeah, she helped me out a lot.”
Bleis began dry swings and hitting the ball of the Tee in September. He was a full-go in January to do everything. He participated in the Spring Breakout Game on Saturday and drew a walk and scored a run.
“I continue to get my body stronger so I can be (healthy) the whole year,” he said.
He said his main goal this season is to stay healthy. He also wants to do a better job 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.”
