JJ Bleday Continues Torrid Pace, Wins Arizona Fall League Fall Stars MVP

Image credit: JJ Bleday (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — This is the JJ Bleday the Marlins have been looking for since they drafted him with their first-round selection in 2019. After an up-and-down season in which he showed excellent command of the strike zone but little else consistently, Bleday is having his way in a Fall League that is admittedly light on high-end pitching.

On Saturday night at the Arizona Fall League’s annual Fall Stars Game, Bleday continued his stellar five weeks with a 2-for-3 night, a game-tying home run, three RBIs and the game’s MVP award. 

After the West team got two runs to open the game on a Bryson Stott double and Juan Yepez sacrifice fly, Bleday answered by socking West starter Coleman Crow’s (Angels) 93 mph fastball 410 feet to center field, just to the right of the massive wall and onto the grassy berm. 

“It’s huge,” Bleday said of his evening. “Hitting a home run in an all-star game is special, and to have it happen (in the) first inning and to make it tied 2-2, it’s great.”

 

 

 

Before the game, East team hitting coach Phil Plantier, who coached in the regular season at Triple-A Jacksonville (Marlins) spoke about the changes he’s seen in Bleday through the majority of the AFL season.

“He’s put in the work. It’s been really nice to see the consistency in which he’s executed his work. His preparation before the games has been good, and I think that’s the consistency in his work,” Plantier said. “The consistency in his preparation and how he studies the pitchers here to get that information before he goes up to the plate, you see all those elements starting to come together in his at-bats. 

“He’s done a tremendous job managing the strike zone. More importantly, he has taken care of the fastball really well. More specifically, the fastball at the top of the zone. His ability to do that has really slowed the game down. For him to be able to recognize the hanging breaking balls and take those pitches underneath the zone, he’s done a really good job with that.”

Bleday’s homer wasn’t the only damage he did on the night. Later in the game he stayed back on a curveball from Cardinals lefty Zack Thompson and poked it into right field for a run-scoring single. The single spoke to what Plantier mentioned—Bleday’s ability to handle both fastballs and breaking balls. 

“??I knew I’d faced Zack quite a bit,” Bleday said. “He’s got really good stuff. He’s a tough lefty-lefty at-bat and I was really just trying to see on his heater. I know he likes his curveball, so I was just trying to stay on his heater and react to his soft stuff.”

In the second half of the season and throughout the Fall League, Bleday has tweaked his hitting mechanics to get himself in better position to hit pitches with more authority. Clearly, the shift is paying off in the box score, but it’s also helped clear Bleday’s head while allowing him to be as free as possible when he steps to the plate. 

“I feel like I’m able to feel the swing a little bit better with the positions I’m in right now,” Bleday said. “From there on out, it’s just about approach. That’s when baseball gets fun—when you can just take all the mechanics out of it and then just go play.”

On Saturday, Bleday was free and easy and had a lot of fun as a result.