Blade Tidwell
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| Photo by Ed Delany/Mets Minors |
Bio:
Age: 21
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 207 lbs.
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Hometown: Columbia, Tennessee
Draft Profile: 2nd round, 52nd pick of the 2022 draft by the New York Mets
Drafted Out of: University of Tennessee
Career Stat Line: 44.0 IP 2-4 W/L 4.30 ERA 61:36 K:BB .182 AVG. 1.45 WHIP
Janzen Blade Tidwell...welcome, to the Minor League Spotlight! This week, we're looking into a young man from Tennessee whose excelled at every level of competition he's encountered thus far.
Born to parents Vashon and Debbie, life started for Janzen in Columbia, Tennessee, just 45 minutes south of Nashville. It wasn't long before the young athlete was going by his objectively more badass middle name of Blade, growing up playing baseball and basketball competitively.
He'd carry this commitment to athletics into high school, where he played both sports at Loretto High School. On the basketball court, Tidwell helped the Mustangs to a 69-24 record over four years of varsity play, winning the District 12 division twice during that stretch. But it was on the baseball diamond where he shined the brightest.
Blade came on strong as a freshman, helping lead Loretto to a TSSAA Class A Championship victory over Goodpasture. The two-way player started at third base for the big game, going 1-3 with a run as he ceded way to future big leaguer Ryan Weathers on the mound (TSSAA Sports).
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| Matt McKean/Times Daily |
By his junior season, it was clear Tidwell was a special talent. His numbers began rising astronomically, as did the attention he received from collegiate and professional scouts. All in all, he finished with a gaudy .557 batting average with six home runs at the plate, adding an even more impressive 8-0 record in 53 innings pitched, striking out over two batters per inning (Amazin Avenue). The incredible season earned him the title of Tennessee Mr. Baseball (Columbia Daily Herald).
COVID unfortunately limited his senior campaign to just one game which, fortunately, did not have a major impact on his trajectory due to the good game film he'd produced in previous seasons. It was all about finding a willing suitor at this point, either in the NCAA or MLB.
Blade's next big opportunity would come via the collegiate route, with major league baseball teams passing on the prep baller in the shortened 2020 draft due to his financial demands. The choice of schools was a simple one though, as he kept things in-state by committing to play SEC ball for the University of Tennessee, as a pitcher.
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| Loretto Mustangs Facebook |
His first season for the Vols was an impressive one. After being thrown immediately into the starting rotation, the righty quickly showed why there was so much hype behind him, going 10-3 with a 3.74 ERA and 90 strikeouts (Wikipedia). The ten wins tied him for the most by a freshman in Tennessee history with R.A. Dickey; fair company!
His sophomore campaign got off to a less fortunate start, with the quickly ascending prospect missing the beginning of the season due to a shoulder injury. As a result, he only started nine games, going 3-2 with a 3.00 ERA and a 4.6:1 K:BB rate-- nearly doubling his ratio from the year prior (Baseball Reference).
Despite the missing half of his 2022 season, there was more than enough tape on the Volunteer starting pitcher to boost his draft stock. The New York Mets decided to scoop him up with pick #52 overall, smack in the middle of the second round. Both sides agreed to a $1.8 million dollar signing bonus and Blade's professional career was officially underway (Yahoo Sports).
New York sent him down to the Florida Complex League for just one inning of work before moving him up to the low-A St. Lucie Mets for the remainder of the 2022 minor league season. While playing in the Florida State League, he went 0-1 in four starts, allowing just two earned runs and an opposing batting average of .143 (MiLB).
2023 has brought a few more growing pains for Tidwell however. Through nine starts for the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones, the fifth ranked Mets' prospect has gone 2-3 with a 4.93 ERA and a WHIP over 1.50. He's still striking out more batters than he's walking, but the ratio isn't quite as pronounced as some would prefer. Regardless, the stuff has translated well from the college game to the lower levels of minor league ball, and there's a definite trajectory for future success.
If you can deal with the Canadian smoke...make sure to catch this up and coming player in Brooklyn before he inevitably receives a promotion to Binghamton. He's still relatively young for a kid whose come over from college, but New York surely wouldn't mind if he was able to fast track his development to the big leagues. Make sure to follow along on Blade Tidwell's journey, as he attempts to do just that.
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@Choppinglines
*I own no rights to any images found in this blog
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