When the Red Sox drafted Marcelo Mayer there was a way throughout the recreation they’d simply landed one of the best participant in his class.
The highschool shortstop was an elite expertise within the mildew of Corey Seager and Brandon Crawford, solely Red Sox officers believed he was much more superior at his age than these two All-Stars and World Series champions.
That’s loads to measure as much as, however two years later Mayer’s accomplished every thing attainable to reside as much as the hype.
Since being chosen No. 4 total within the 2021 MLB Draft, Mayer has rocketed by means of the Red Sox minor league system, and final month the 20-year-old grew to become the youngest Red Sox draftee to earn a Double-A call-up since 2009. He ranks as a prime 5 prospect in all of baseball and not too long ago was chosen to the Futures Game over All-Star Weekend in Seattle.
“I’ll tell you what,” mentioned Portland Sea Dogs supervisor Chad Epperson. “This kid, every time he steps into the box there’s a chance for something good to happen.”
From the second he made his skilled debut Mayer has impressed the Red Sox at each flip. Last 12 months he earned a swift promotion from Low-A Salem to High-A Greenville in his first full season of professional ball, and up to now in 2023 Mayer is batting .250 with 12 residence runs, 47 RBI and an .813 OPS in 56 video games between High-A and Double-A.
His preliminary transition to Portland has been a blended bag — he’s batted .177 with 5 residence runs in his first 21 video games — however he’s additionally impressed coaches and teammates along with his maturity and baseball IQ, each superior for a participant his age.
“It’s been good, I’ve been settling in, I love the guys in the clubhouse. We’re boys, we’ve been boys since last year’s spring training so it’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Mayer mentioned. “On the field obviously my numbers haven’t been there, there are a few adjustments that need to be made but I think I’m playing well, been playing good defense and hitting the ball hard, so we’ll go from there.”
Epperson known as Mayer “a complete package kind of guy” who has energy to all fields and may make tough performs look straightforward. Though Mayer is working to maintain enhancing all facets of his recreation, constructing on that energy has been a precedence and an space he feels he’s made the largest strides up to now.
“I worked on it in the offseason getting stronger, and I think that comes with age as well and maturity,” Mayer mentioned. “It feels good to be hitting homers.”
“There’s a lot to be excited about this kid and really pleased with the way he’s gone about it in the three weeks or whatever it is he’s been here,” Epperson mentioned.
Beyond his abilities on the sphere, Mayer’s secret weapon could be his capacity to bridge the hole between his English and Spanish talking teammates. The bilingual Mayer considers Spanish his first language, and whereas he’s from the San Diego space his mother and father are each Mexican and his mom is initially from Nogales, Sonora, a metropolis alongside the U.S. border throughout from Arizona.
“Growing up we spoke Spanish in my household. I still speak Spanish to this day in my house, that’s pretty much the only language we speak,” Mayer mentioned. “Every time I start speaking Spanish the other Latin players — I always catch them by surprise.”
Players with Mayer’s distinctive presents don’t come round usually, which is why Mayer’s minor league profession has performed out beneath such an unusually vibrant highlight. For his half, Mayer acknowledges the hype and a focus however mentioned he does his greatest to not let it have an effect on him.
After all, what good is a prime 5 prospect rating if he by no means quantities to something within the majors?
“It’s definitely an honor. It’s cool to look at but at the end of the day that doesn’t matter at all to anyone, especially the people in the front office,” Mayer mentioned. “I know I still have to perform if I want to make it to where I want to be, so that’s why I go every time I’m out there, I just try to play hard, perform, work hard and hopefully everything will fall into place.”
Even in probably the most optimistic situation Mayer possible gained’t make his huge league debut till subsequent season on the earliest. Still, Mayer gained’t be a stranger when he arrives, and this Tuesday he took benefit of Portland’s back-to-back off-days to make the journey all the way down to see Boston play the Miami Marlins.
“It was a really cool atmosphere, really cool to see those guys, I know some of them on a personal level so it was cool to see them out there,” mentioned Mayer, who mentioned it was his third time visiting Fenway since being drafted. “The game didn’t go as planned but that happens, that’s baseball, so it was pretty cool and hopefully one day I can be in their shoes playing there.”
By the time the Marlins subsequent return to Fenway in 2025, Mayer very nicely could possibly be.
Source: www.bostonherald.com