All-star Procyshen promoted to Salem

C Jordan Procyshen (Oktoks, Alta.) of the Greenville Drive wishes a fan good luck before a game against the Augusta GreenJackets at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, SC. Procyshen was promoted to class-A Salem. (Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images)

By Jon Hodgson
Canadian Baseball Network
An all-star first half of 2015 has Jordan Procyshen packing his bags and moving on up.

Procyshen, a 14th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2014, enjoyed a strong start to his career, being promoted from the rookie-class Lowell Spinners to the class-A Greenville Drive in his rookie year, and picked up right where he left off in 2015.

After hitting .300 in nine games with a homerun and three RBIs with Greenville to end 2014, after being moved up from Lowell, the catcher from Okotoks, AB, was assigned to the Drive to begin his second season in pro season. 

In 51 games for the Drive in the first half, Procyshen hit .285 with two homeruns and 28 RBIs, adding eight doubles. He has continued his solid work defensively behind the plate as well, throwing out 33% of potential base stealers. 

Procyshen was one of a league-high eight players from the Greenville roster to be named all-stars, as the team finished the first half 38-31, one game behind the Savannah Sand Gnats, single-A affiliate of the New York Mets.

All of that work caught the eye of decision makers, as Procyshen was named the Southern Division’s starting catcher in the 2015 South Atlantic League All-Star Game. The product of the Okotoks Dawgs Youth Academy and alum of the summer collegiate Okotoks Dawgs of the Western Major Baseball League caught the first five innings of the game, going 0 for 1, while throwing out one base stealer in the game played at historic McCormick Field in Asheville, NC.

After the game, Procyshen found out that he would not be returning to Greenville for the second half, but instead would be on his way to Salem, Va., as he had been promoted to class-A Salem Red Sox. 

When he suits up for the Salem Sox at Lewis Gale Field for their game against the Frederick Keys on Thursday night, the former Junior National Team member will have reached the third rung on the climb up the ladder to Boston one year after the 2014 June draft.

The man they call “Pro” is certainly living up to that name early in his pro career.  From Okotoks, to now Salem, Va., Jordan Procyshen’s dreams of Boston’s Fenway Park remain very much alive.