The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey provided an update on a handful of Red Sox prospects today, headlined by top shortstop prospect Marcelo Mayer. A consensus top-15 prospect in the sport headed into the 2023 campaign, Mayer hit well enough in 35 games with Boston’s High-A affiliate last season to earn a promotion to Double-A, though his move to the upper levels of the minors was met with difficulties. Over 190 trips to the plate at the level, Mayer slashed just .189/.254/.355 with a 25.8% strikeout rate before ultimately seeing his 2023 campaign come to an end due to a nagging shoulder injury at the beginning of August.
Mayer has been been doing rehab work since the season ended, per McCaffrey, and is expected to have a normal offseason this winter. It’s surely a significant relief for the Red Sox, as Mayer could be on the radar to reach the majors sometime next year given the club’s lack of certainty in the middle infield. Boston figures to use Trevor Story as their everyday shortstop next year, though he slashed just .203/.250/.316 in 43 games this year after returning from surgery midseason. Alongside Story, the club sports a handful of options including Enmanuel Valdez, Luis Urias and top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela as potential contributors up the middle.
Also discussed in McCaffrey’s piece is right-hander Noah Song, who was returned to the Red Sox by the Phillies back in August after the Phillies selected Song in the Rule 5 draft last offseason. While McCaffrey notes that the club may decide to protect Song from the Rule 5 draft this year to avoid a similar situation, she suggests it’s also possible that Song’s inability to stick on the roster in Philadelphia in 2023 could leave him unlikely to do so in 2024, even if selected for a second time. As a member of the naval reserves, Song has certain obligations to the US military that have impacted his ability to play baseball professionally in the past. That being said, McCaffrey relays that Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham believes Song’s military duties can be fulfilled during the offseason, allowing him to have a normal 2024 campaign.
More from the American League…
- Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney discussed his decision to sign in Texas last winter recently with Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast. Heaney acknowledged that he discussed potential deals with several teams, including the Red Sox, adding that he spoke with the team remotely and met with a member of the club’s medical staff during negotiations last offseason. Ultimately, Heaney notes that his decision to sign in Texas was influenced by the Oklahoma City native wanting to play for his hometown team. Heaney can opt out of the final year and $13MM on his deal with the Rangers this offseason. If he decides to do so on the heels of a season where he posted a 4.15 ERA in 147 1/3 innings of work it’s at least possible that the Red Sox, who figure to lose lefty James Paxton and righty Corey Kluber to free agency later this month, could be a suitor for his services once again.
- Long-time Twins TV broadcaster Dick Bremer is stepping away from the booth after 40 years as the club’s play-by-play announcer, per an announcement by the club yesterday. Bremer, 67, will remain as a member of the Twins organization as a special assistant to the front office. Per the club’s press release, the Twins are currently “assessing potential broadcast options as well as a talent lineup for 2024 and beyond” with announcements expected later this offseason. Minnesota, of course, is among the teams impacted by Diamond Sports Group filing for bankruptcy back in March. The split with Diamond has left the club’s broadcast situation up in the air headed into the 2024 campaign.
The cautionary tales of Trevor Story and Bryce Harper in 2023 is not being tabled as a comparison for recent position players who returned from UCL surgery and took months re-discover the power stroke (Harper) or not at all (Story) as Ohtani will be facing next year. The whole idea that Ohtani will slot into a DH position and pencil right in for 40 HRs seems like a best-case scenario.
Harper had a slg % just 22 points below his career average and returned months sooner than anyone thought he could. Don’t try to compare his situation to Ohtani who would be returning with a full recovery time.
Pads Fans, you’re missing the point – Harper for most of the year wasn’t close to his usual self, and then eventually he got fully back and kicked butt. As of Aug 4th, he had played 77 games to the tune of just a .403 SLG% (.113 ISO). For the remaining 49 games, he had a .665 SlG% (.366 ISO). So the point about the negative impact of hurrying back holds up, keeping in mind that Harper was still pretty solid even when not himself.
You are missing the point, Harper was not supposed to play at all until mid-July, after the ASG. He came back more than 2 months early. He had 246 PA before he was ever supposed to have one.
After the ASG he had a .583 SLG %. So when he was SUPPOSED to be back to playing he was BETTER than his career averages.
Ohtani will be getting his FULL recovery time before returning. Huge difference. Expecting him to be any less with the bat than he was before is not realistic.
That IS the point.
I wish there was a futures bet on that. Harper had his operation on 11/23/22 As of 8/4/23, he had 5 HRs in 290 ABs. That’s better than 8 months. For Ohtani, that takes him into July 2024.
Harper’s surgery was November 23 last year, Ohtani’s surgery was September 20 of this year, so given the run=in, Ohtani would be ostensibly ready to return in May with a full recovery, but there’s also the pesky question of whether a second surgery has a longer recovery time than the first. But regardless, Harper’s first almost-three months back, everyone commented that he was a shadow of himself, with 5 HR in 318PA from May 2-July 31. As mentioned, Story never really got on track, with 3HR in 154 PA. My point as someone mentioned, was that there is a degree of uncertainty, even with a superhero, and more so on a second surgery than first. Even if one team proceeds with more caution in pursuit, it’s going to affect his market since there are probably only 4-5 teams truly in contention to sign him.
Well the Bryce is Right—he just merely coasted until the playoffs because that’s when the big hair and the davishing beard play the best on the TV and interweb streams.
@Hemlock – In 126 regular season games .293/.401/.499 OPS .900 wRC+ 142. Ranked the 9th best qualified hitter in all of baseball. Yeah. Coasting.
martras, he was making a joke.
I know your joking, but as well as he did in the playoffs, he could do some slacking during the regular season, and I wouldn’t be that upset.
All about the myth that is commented on over and over again on this site, that major arm surgery, whether UCL, TJ or something in between, is an automatic ticket to not only coming back as good but actually better than before performance wise in baseball…….buyer beware for Ohtani, who has been hurt now twice…..a signing team may simply be paying for dramatically reduced performance in 2024…..hitting or pitching…….
Harper had 16 HR from August on, not even including the postseason HRs.
August is The New Spring Training®
I hope the Red Sox would shoot higher than Andrew Heaney. They need a #1 and a #2 and he is neither.
As a Yankee fan……Please let the Red Sox sign Heaney……..
Heaney = American Martin Perez.
Yup Heaney is your big off-season haul. Maybe someone like Cueto too. Never know. It’s the Red Sox, you can’t think too big.
Oh, yes, it’s the Red Sox, the team that’s won the most World Serirs since 2000.
Get some perspective.
Ignorant – It’s a whole new world, now that John Henry has finally gotten tired of finishing last and losing revenue.
Sox will spend for a true #1 starting pitcher, count on it.
We don’t need high-knee
He’s from Oklahoma, give him a break.
Not a good sign for the Red Sox that a kid that slashed just .189/.254/.355 with a 25.8% strikeout rate in AA is expected to be part of the infield mix in 2024.
This is a good article about Marcelo Mayer’s 2023 season. He was hurt the whole time at AA and tried to play through it and it kept getting worse and worse. I doubt he is in the Red Sox infield mix in 2024.
nesn.com/2023/09/lesson-learned-red-soxs-marcelo-m…
That’s a great article. Thanks. That explains a lot about why he played so poorly in AA. Hope he comes back fully recovered in 2024.
This sentence in the article, ” It’s surely a significant relief for the Red Sox, as Mayer could be on the radar to reach the majors sometime next year given the club’s lack of certainty in the middle infield.” made me think he was in the mix for a spot in the Red Sox infield in 2024.
I see. I guess he could make it to Boston later in 2024 if things go really well.
“he was hurt the while time at AA”…….if he was hurt, why and how was he promoted to Portland….if he’s in the Sox plans, the last thing management would do is continue to play a kid that was hurt and cross your fingers it all works out……promoted on 5-31, and shut down on 8-1 or so…….while he may have been hurt more towards the end of his Portland work, he definitely didn’t set the world on fire at AA when he arrived……..time will tell as with all “prospects”.
It’s all in the article. Mayer hurt his shoulder in A+. They kept him out a few days, but he kept it to himself as it got worse and worse because he wanted to play. He finally spoke up about it. The problem was Mayer keeping the problem to himself. We will see how he does in AA next year.
@rocky7 – Agreed. Injuries are a time honored excuse when a player underperforms, but not when a player underperforms at the level Mayer did at AA. Hitting .189/.254/.355 tells you there’s something more than injury at play.
The walk rate was too low, the K rate was normal for his previous stops. His ISO was down a little, but wasn’t expected to be a powerhouse.
The guy doesn’t even turn 21 for a couple more months. He’s just not ready, and it would be very surprising for him to be ready before 2025.
He has an issue of whiffing on in zone breakers, not good Bob
martras, injuries are indeed a time honored excuse in baseball, and a good one in many cases. I don’t know why you figure they can’t have the level of impact they seemed to have with Mayer in AA; baseball history is littered with countless examples of exactly that, with full rebounds the following season often the follow-up.
Yankee fans just adding their fifty cents (inflation) as they not look in the mirror about their own immediate future.
The biggest difference was the BABIP. He had a .343 in A-ball and .220 in AA. The K/W is a bit alarming, but AA at at age 20, I am not concerned.
Marcelo Mayer started slowly this year in High A he was hitting around .250 with something in the neighborhood of .750 ops. After watching all those at bats he just seemed a little slow. He started a series with the Houston High A affiliate on May 2nd in that series he destroyed their pitching he caught fire he hit .500 and ops of 1500. On the game May 7th he was 3/4 of the way to the cycle on his 4th at bat he hit into the gap and went hard around second looking for the cycle he fell awkwardly on his shoulder and that was that he never really recovered.
Marcelo Mayer after the May 2nd to May 7th series raised his High numbers from .250 and .750 ops to .338 and nearly 1000 ops. Unfortunately Milb didn’t have a feed for his magical series so we can’t see that series. When he came back a week later he was even worse then his slow start before he was promoted on May 31st. So to be clear if you take out his series from 5/2 to 5/7 he was a .225 hitter with barely over a .700 ops. This is going to be a very important year for Mayer not only to remain healthy but to also really hit he really wasn’t that good last year except for one magical series.
martas – all excellent points. The jury is out on Mayer because he’s not proven to be a guy who puts up early first round numbers. That doesn’t mean he won’t be great, it means he has a lot of work ahead of him if he is going to be an all-star quality SS in the future.
My personal opinion about interpreting minor league results prior to AA is look for the guys that FAR exceed the norms. The guys who put up solid but not great numbers usually ARE NOT the stars of the future.
Mookie Betts at Hi=A at age 20 hit .341 in 50 games. It was a sign of things to come. By 21 he hit .355 in AA, .335 in AAA and .291 for the Red Sox. Bogaerts at age 19 hit .302 in Hi-A and .326 at AA. By age 20, he hit .284 in AAA and then .250 for the Red Sox. It took him to age 22 to bring his average over .300 at the MLB level.
These are two examples of stellar players and the differential continues today as Mookie is still the better player but Bogaerts has been either in the MVP race or was an all-star all six of his last years in Boston. Mayer, during his 3 seasons in the lower minors at ages 18-20 he has yet to break .300 at any level. Normally, that would suggest a league average or possibly a slightly above league average player at the MLB level. That’s why the jury is out on Mayer. He is a first round pick that hasn’t played like a first round pick for 3 years.
Boston might need Story for 6 years at SS if Mayer doesn’t wake up and start playing like the fourth pick in the draft.
@dewey We can do both at the same time. I have no issues with you, JoeB, FPG, and a few others criticizing the Yankees. Some of us take off our rose-colored glasses sometimes. It’s the constant cheap swipes Rsox and Dorothy take on them is when I pushback like you just did.
Yankee – We don’t always agree but I don’t take cheap shots at the Yankees any more than I do Bloom or Cora or the Red Sox ownership. I really don’t think pointing out facts is a cheap shot but I do, like you, dislike the way many answer when discussing a point on this site.
The Yankees have been arch rivals for over a half century for me and have caused a great deal of anguish thanks to having a college roommate that is a Yankee fan and living through the Bucky Dent incident but I think folks need to be realistic about what they criticize. Is Boone as bad as Cora? Close!! Is Cashman way over-rated and closer to Bloom than DD? Yes. Has NY spent hundreds of millions more than Boston since 2000 with only 1 championship? Yes. Are any of these comments cheap shots? NO. They are simply facts.
Look, from my perspective, being a Yankee fan isn’t any different than being a Bloom or Cora fan. If you write something that isn’t true about the Yankees I’m going to disagree just like I would if a fan of the two schmucks wrote something about them that was false.
Your biggest issue with regard to being here on this specific site is that many of the Yankee outrageous fans come to comment which raises the hair on the back of the neck of many contributors so they may lash out at you with a broad stroke not a precise response. Let it go. It’s a long time rivalry with a rich history of abuse. I feel like it’s in a stage of detente since neither team has been very good lately. Enjoy the peace, if the rivalry heats up things are bound to get uglier between the fan bases.
Mayer’s shoulder injury happened in May 7th in A+. His numbers before and after the injury:
April 6 – May 7: 111 plate appearances, .337/.414/.582, 15 extra-base hits, 21.6 strikeout percentage
May 14 – August 2: 243 plate appearances, .190/.256/.366, 19 extra-base hits, 25.5 strikeout percentage
nbcsportsboston.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/marcelo-may…
Yea All but look at his numbers in High A before the one fantastic series he had with Houston’s High A affiliate from May 2nd to May 7th. He started very slowly take out that one series and look at his numbers you should go to fangraph’s and look at the game logs it’s quite eye opening. It also goes with the eye test when I watched all his April at bats he just wasn’t that impressive at the plate.
Bruin: I see what you are saying except I don’t agree Mayer had a very slow start in 2023. In April he batted .254/.375/.388. A .763 OPS is an ok to pretty good start in my opinion. However, looking more at his A+ numbers last year and this year, I do think they may have promoted him to AA too early. So, I largely agree with your assessment of Mayer.
Living through the Bucky Dent incident? He lived in my town. Ahhhh. And so did Gossage. Ahhhhh. I’ve been to hell and back with this team. I got no problem with Cora. I’m not unhappy that Bloom is out and I like Breslow. Way too much absolutely opinionated diatribe by the Red Sox fans on this site. Lighten up. Wait and see what happens. Enjoy the ride.
Yeesh.
I’m curious about what Mayer’s exit velocities were before and after the injury. I don’t believe they keep track of that in the minor leagues.
Aahhh! Sitting in section #1, shielding my eyes from the sun, seeing Yaz stop running because I thought it was a foul ball!
YBC – When do I criticize the Yankees? I must have posted at least a half dozen times how the Yankees have made the playoffs nearly every year and avoided last place for decades, unlike the Red Sox who have finished last six times in the past 12 seasons.
I also repeatedly pointed out how the Yankees played with enough pride to stay out of last place and above .500 unlike the Sox who totally tanked as usual.
Sure I criticize Judge batting leadoff or 2nd, and a couple other specific decisions they’ve made … but I do that with every team, including my own.
If there’s something specific I wrote, let me know and I’ll explain or own it.
@FPG My apologies if I hadn’t been clear. When you yourself and the other commenters I’ve mentioned talk about the Yankees, it’s a level-headed take so I have no problems with that even if I sometimes disagree. Great chatting baseball with you as always!
Not a bad sign either.
I’ve been confused by Song’s USNR requirements for sometime. I myself decided to stay in the active USNR after being discharged from active duty in the USN. USNR(active) was 1 weekend a month, then 2 weeks a year of “playing” once again a sailor, unless being called up again for active duty. Maybe active USN and active reserves for all military changed the last 40+years?
As previously reported he has a waiver during the season and obligations can be performed in offseason.
Yes hes special i was in the navy as well you and i are not special
Hometown team? Its the same distance from OKC to Dallas that it is from DC to NYC.
It’s almost the same distance, sure. About 30 miles closer. But Adding up all the population of the counties that make up the 200 miles between OKC and Dallas there are about 60,000 people total – and no other sports in between. Adding up the total population of the counties you pass through to go the 230 miles between DC and NYC, there are about 7,300,000 people, and you pass through 2 other major sports markets (Baltimore and Philadelphia) en route.
So yes, OKC people likely consider Dallas to be their hometown team. Not all of the country is dense population
The people of Norman beg to differ. lol
College is far different than professional although the payments players now receive is blurring things. The government needs to tax big time colleges as big time corporations given that’s the way they’re run like.
Do colleges distribute profits to shareholders?
I beg to differ. I’ve been in those parts of OK and TX and a lot of the population is dense.
phantomofdb – If you don’t live in the area, you say really ridiculous things about sports affiliations in this not so densely populated part of the country.
Oklahoma supports the Cowboys, the Rangers the Stars but not the Mavericks because the Oklahoma City Thunder are the local NBA team.. Oklahoma is a northern suburb of Dallas and distance is irrelevant. It’s all about the placement of franchises. For those that aren’t familiar with the southwest portion of the United States, there are NOT many professional franchises close to OKLAHOMA.
Baseball – Rangers THEN Royals/Astros next closest Rockies
Football – Cowboys THEN Chiefs/Texans next closest Titans/Saints
Hockey – Stars THEN Blues, Coyotes and Avalanche are all significantly far
So, yes, Oklahoma is a major portion of the fan base of Dallas teams in three major sports.
TF – The largest casino in the world is right across the Texas border in Oklahoma, have you been there? I hope to go in March.
Did you miss the part about playing with a shoulder injury?
Corey Kluber going elsewhere is not a loss for the Red Sox…it’s addition by subtraction.
Dick had many of late nights at Glukes and would occasionally head over to the 7th street Entry after a few to smoke cigarettes on the sidewalk before catching a show.
Somebody needs to contact ROTOWIRE because they didn’t get the message that Mayer is a CONSENSUS top 15 prospect. They have him at 78 based on performance. Personally, I like their rankings more than MLB and BA because they are performance based not political.
I’m sure if Mayer heals properly and does well in 2024 he will climb the ladder to the top but as of today, he’s not performing like a CONSENSUS top 15 prospect.
FYI…. here are the BOSTON prospects according to ROTOWIRE
11 – Roman Anthony OF 19 yrs old
40 – Ceddanne Rafaela OF 23
64 – Kyle Teel C 21
76 – Wilyer Abreu OF 24
78 – Marcelo Mayer SS 20
99 – Brainer Bonaci 2B 21
103 – Wikelman Gonzalez P 21
128 – Nick Yorke 2B 21
142 – Yordanny Monegro P 21
184 – Miguel Bleis OF 19
A more reputation based ranking by Baseball America has
15 Mayer
19 Anthony
72 Bleis
85 Teel
Note that Teel is ranked based on draft location, Bleis is ranked based on a year ago not recent performance and Meyer’s post injury slump was not accounted for in the rankings. Any wonder why I don’t put much stock in these rankings?
MLB has similar limitations.
11 Mayer
35 Anthony
72 Rafaela
82 Teel
Well at least MLB recognizes Rafaela where Baseball America doesn’t and MLB doesn’t have Bleis listed after he couldn’t maintain his ROK level of play at A ball.
Remember, Farm System rankings come from bogus lists like these by BA and MLB. That’s why it’s better to count the graduates than guess at the futures when evaluating a farm system. Facts vs conjecture. I’ll always take facts.
Dick Bremer deserved his own post, not a footnote to boston’s news. Raising a toast to Dick Bremer on a hall of fame broadcasting career!
Especially as The Twins actually fired him. The ‘Special Assistant’ stuff is a ‘no job’ to make it look better. Typical Twins cheap trick.
So for all the Nate Eovaldi detractors – I still say he would look outstanding in a Red Sox uniform. DD understood that, Bloom didn’t. DD is helping his new team make the playoffs every year and Bloom is out of work for good reason.
Congrats to the Rangers who set a PERFECT example for other organizations to become winners.
1 – HIRE A GREAT POBO
2 – LET THE POBO do his thing by finding an OUTSTANDING MANAGER
3 – LET THE POBO ask for players who provide greater value than cost no matter how much they cost and let the OWNERSHIP group support the POBO by funding his suggestions.
4 – Have the POBO and Manager hire outstanding coaches in the hitter and pitching areas.
5 – Have OWNERSHIP support the POBO with trade deadline money to help win a PENNANT AND WORLD SERIES.
Boston OWNERSHIP has the yellow brick road all laid out for them. Now they just have to execute the steps. Hiring Breslow can be that first step. Firing Cora is the second step. Hiring a NEW Manager is the third step. Moving Devers to DH is the fourth step. Trading Yoshi and Verdugo to get either a 3B or SP is the fifth step. Then the big step, spend the big bucks to get TWO high quality starting pitchers.
There is no reason 2024 can’t be a return to greatness for the Boston Red Sox after the horror that has been 2020 to 2023 under Bloom.
Reverse the Curse of Bloom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree with you, Troll. Nate winning game 5 of the world series should be the final nail in Boston’s money ball coffin.
TF – You know how some people constantly made excuses for Bloom & Henry by saying it takes more than 4 years to become a contender? The Rangers proved once again that’s bullcrap!
Texas lost 102 games just two years ago, and now they are World Champions!
How did they do it? By spending wisely, making good trades, and getting a top notch manager!!!
There’s absolutely no reason why the Sox couldn’t have done the same.
I think if the Red Sox signed Eovaldi instead of Kluber, they may have made the playoffs. I guess it worked out for Nate, but it sure would be nice to have him on our team for the next 2 years for 17 mil/yr.