It started off as a joke.
During the dog days of summer, Levi Jordan had a stretch of games for Louisville, the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, in which he played across the diamond. Second base and shortstop in the same game twice. Back to starting at short. Second base, shifting to left field.
The Reds farmhand turned to his manager, Pat Kelly, and said in jest that it would be fun to play all nine positions in a game, and they laughed about it.
Two months later, with a day of warning, that bit became a reality when Jordan played all nine positions in the Bats’ regular-season finale, an 11-4 loss to Nashville at Louisville Slugger Field that became one of the most memorable games of his eight-year pro career.
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“From the idea of it yesterday to the execution of it today, it was a lot of fun and an experience that I’ll never forget,” Jordan said. “Hopefully I get the chance to play all of those positions at some point again in my baseball career, maybe not in one day, but to get them done in one day is definitely a memory I’ll take with me for a long time. Twenty years down the road, I can say that I played every position in professional baseball, which is pretty cool. Not a lot of guys can say that.”
The 29-year-old has played the vast majority of his pro games at second, third or shortstop, although he has moonlighted at first, left, center and right. And more often than not, no matter where he was stationed defensively, the ball managed to find him.
Playing shortstop in the second inning, Jordan made an acrobatic catch in shallow left field and fielded a ground ball for an out. The following inning, he stopped a slow roller up the middle at second. Playing left in the fifth, a double in the gap was out of reach, and a sixth-inning single dropped well in front of him in center.
The tension ratcheted up a notch in the eighth when the right-hander pitched for the first time in pro ball. Adding to the pressure was the fact that the game with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate was tied.
“Of all the nine spots, that was probably the one I was the most nervous for,” Jordan said. “I wanted to at least be able to throw strikes, be in the zone, let guys hit the ball. … But once I threw the first pitch and the inning started, it was fine. I was able to find the zone. It was just like playing catch.”
The native of Puyallup, Washington, only got to lob in three pitches — ranging from 47.3 to 50.6 mph — and all were put in play. Freddy Zamora lined a single through the left side and Ethan Murray grounded into a forceout at third base before Jimmy Herron reached on right fielder Ryan Vilade’s fielding error. That was enough for Kelly, who pulled him for right-hander Buck Farmer.
Both runners he left on base scored, officially as unearned runs, which was enough to give Jordan the loss — with a 0.00 ERA. His stint behind the plate in the ninth was also eventful, although he had more preparation for it. Despite having never served as backstop in a game before, he had caught bullpens and live BPs when he was in the Cubs organization in 2023 and had talked with the Reds about being an emergency catcher.
Forming a battery with another position player on the mound — Eric Yang — Jordan caught all 16 pitches that made it to him in the air cleanly, blocked a ball in the dirt and even employed a one-knee approach as the Sounds batted around.
No matter how things ended on the field, though, Jordan was glad to have the backing of his teammates through it all. No player had accomplished the feat in the Minors since Triple-A Lehigh Valley’s Ali Castillo in 2022, and it’s only happened five times in AL/NL history.
“We competed, and unfortunately it was a close game when I had to pitch and catch, and it kind of led to us getting blown out, but really cool of PK to be comfortable enough to do that with me, just have some fun with it,” Jordan said. “He’s been a great manager to me for the last two years, so I’m very thankful to him.”
