Jordon Adell, a Louisville commit, won the Home Run Derby at the Area Code Games on Monday night, blasting a total of 40 home runs in the three rounds.
He also hit the longest homer of the event, measured at 448 feet.
Adell, from Ballard High (Louisville), is playing for the Chicago White Sox team at the games, which features many of the top baseball prospects in the nation and is attended by hundreds of scouts.
“I am always confident in my ability,” he said. “But I approach this event to go and have fun and that’s what I did.”
Adell outlasted Royce Lewis from JSerra High in California in the final 14-13.
As the second hitter in the round, Adell knew what he had to do when he walked up to the plate. Once he tied the score, he knew the next one was going over the fence.
“A power hitter knows when it leaves the bat — the feel, the sound, my body position at impact,” he said. “I felt all of those things on my 14th home run.”
In Round 2, he downed Shane Baz from Concordia Lutheran (Tomball, Texas). Baz had reached the second round with 18 home runs in the opening round most, for any player in any round at the event.
Adell said he wasn’t concerned that trying to hit home run would interfere with his approach at the plate during games.
“I have been making adjustments all summer,” he said. “I am really comfortable at the plate and with my swing … The home run derby was just another day of on-field batting practice for me.”
The Area Code Games have eight teams in the upperclass division and each team selected one player to participate. That led to the eight-player bracket.
Adell committed to the Louisville as a freshman in the spring of 2014 and has been a star for Ballard. He was named Seventh Region Player of the Year by the Kentucky coaches. He batted .449 with 11 home runs, 44 RBIs, 10 doubles, 44 runs and 25 walks. On the mound, he was 1-0 with a 1.55 ERA and struck out 56 batters in 31 2/3 innings.
“When Jordon comes to the plate he has such a good presence in the box,” Ballard head coach David Trager recently said. “He’s learning to be a good all around hitter, not a guy who just hits for power. He hits for great average in a consistent basis this year. With him, when he sees the ball well and he gets the barrel on it, it goes far. He got a hold of a few today and a couple were lucky enough to go out.”
