Jordyn Adams shows glimpse of his potential to Angels with first career home run

Jordyn Adams will never forget that first-time feeling. The Angels' outfielder has spent the greater part of his career in the minor leagues since being drafted out of high school in 2018. It takes time to develop, but Adams was finally able to display some power at the big league level.

After a brief call-up last year, Adams spent just 17 games with Los Angeles in 2023, batting .128 with zero extra-base hits. He's sat in Triple-A in all of 2024 before nabbing a promotion on Sept. 7. Four days later, the North Carolina native smashed his first MLB home run, doing so on the road in Minnesota.

With two outs and no one on, Adams turned on a 100 MPH heater after striking out twice beforehand in the game. He flipped it 419 feet to the bullpen in left-center, exemplifying his tantalizing in-game power.

“It felt good,” Adams said after the game. “I was going up to the plate looking for something hard and obviously I got it. And I just tried not to miss it. I was fouling them back my previous two at-bats and that was my main focus. Just get it in play.”

The round-tripper is the first extra-base hit of his career. He finished the contest going 2-for-4 in the Halos' 6-4 loss. His second hit came in the ninth inning against Jhoan Duran while down 0-2 in the count.

Adams had glimpses of stardom in the minor leagues this season. He homered in his final game with the Salt Lakes Bees, which capped a three-hit stretch of six hits and five runs scored. He posted six total three-hit games in Triple-A and 13 multi-RBI efforts.

The Angels have called up several prospects since the start of September, including Caden Dana and Reid Detmers, who have each shown signs of success. Though Adams has not come as heralded as these two pitchers, he's hopeful of turning one impressive home run into a potential every day roster spot for a struggling Halos unit. Not every prospect's path is linear, and the former 1st rounder is hoping to strike oil later in his career than expected.