{"id":74333,"date":"2024-05-24T18:13:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T22:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=74333"},"modified":"2024-05-24T18:13:08","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T22:13:08","slug":"marcelo-mayer-lighting-up-double-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/24\/marcelo-mayer-lighting-up-double-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Prospect Lighting Up Double-A"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Boston Red Sox have had issues finding production in the middle infield positions, specifically when it comes to shortstop. And while there may not seem to be any immediate answers, Boston\u2019s top prospect may force its hand. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=mayer-000mar&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-24_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcelo Mayer<\/a> is lighting up the minor leagues with the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox\u2019s Double-A affiliate. The fourth pick of the 2021 MLB Draft is in his fourth year in the minors, and he\u2019s putting together his best campaign yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Boston\u2019s Shortstop Problems<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/storytr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-24_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trevor Story<\/a> was supposed to be the big-league shortstop for the Red Sox this season. He signed a massive <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/03\/20\/trevor-story-red-sox\/\" target=\"_self\">six-year, $140 million deal<\/a> in 2022 after six productive seasons with the Colorado Rockies. But since signing, he\u2019s made just 145 appearances due to injury. And just eight games into 2024, Story suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. His third season in Boston came to an end with only seven hits, four RBI, and a .226 batting average.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RedSox?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RedSox<\/a> Trevor Story injured his left shoulder on this diving play.<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye out for an update on the injury. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4h81Py5qGH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/4h81Py5qGH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mike_Kurland\/status\/1776449524552085506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Story\u2019s absence, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rafaece01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-24_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ceddanne Rafaela<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=hamilda03,hamilt006dav&amp;search=David+Hamilton&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-24_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Hamilton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gonzaro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-24_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Romy Gonzalez<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reyespa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-05-24_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pablo Reyes<\/a> have had their shot in the infield. But none of those options have cemented themselves. While playing the position, Boston\u2019s shortstops are batting just .226 with a .684 OPS. For second base, it\u2019s an even worse .166 average and .419 OPS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s pretty obvious at this point that the Red Sox could use help up the middle. If they get some, it will also allow Ceddanne Rafaela to play the same position consistently. The youngster has split time at shortstop and center field this season. And that help could come in the form of Marcelo Mayer.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Marcelo Mayer Lighting Up Double-A<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marcelo Mayer\u2019s 2024 campaign is off to a blistering start. After batting just .236 in 78 games last season, he\u2019s blossomed to a .302 average this year. Mayer was drafted right out of high school, which he attended in California. It\u2019s sometimes tough for top prospects to immediately adapt to a professional atmosphere. But in Mayer&#8217;s case, he\u2019s more than settled in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the difference between Double-A and MLB is quite stark, Mayer has eye-popping offensive numbers for the Sea Dogs. He leads all MiLB players <a href=\"https:\/\/www.milb.com\/stats\/eastern\/doubles\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in doubles<\/a> with 17 this season. That includes Low\/High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A baseball. In just 39 games in 2024, Mayer is already just two doubles off of the 19 that he roped last year. Nearly 35 percent of his hits this season have been two-baggers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Marcelo Mayer&#8217;s minor league leading 17th double, this one coming off a lefty. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nARIiiNtv3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/nARIiiNtv3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/redsoxstats\/status\/1793670681147891718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over a 138-game full season with Portland, Mayer is on pace to eclipse 50 doubles and nearly 70 RBI. Both of those numbers would blow his career-high statistics out of the water. And at just 21 years old, Mayer has plenty of improvement still ahead. Of course, you can\u2019t expect him to completely keep this up over a season that will most certainly include ups and downs. But jumping out to such a hot start turns plenty of heads, especially when your big-league club is having trouble finding a shortstop solution.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Marcelo Mayer\u2019s Promotion Outlook<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no guarantee that Mayer will even reach Triple-A this season. Boston could very well want to see a full year\u2019s production from its top prospect. The Red Sox aren\u2019t currently in win-now mode. That means they aren\u2019t really in any panic or rush either. There have been plenty of players quickly called up who weren\u2019t ready for the big leagues, and Boston doesn\u2019t want that same outcome. But whether or not the Red Sox pull the trigger this season, Marcelo Mayer is lighting up Double-A and proving that he deserves his label as top prospect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Out in a hurry!<\/p>\n<p>110.5 MPH exit velocity for Marcelo Mayer&#8217;s 4th homerun of the year. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8p640R7Eoh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/8p640R7Eoh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Red Sox Player Development (@RedSoxPlayerDev) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RedSoxPlayerDev\/status\/1793387972315816410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Boston Red Sox have had issues finding production in the middle infield positions, specifically when it comes to shortstop. And while there may not seem to be any immediate answers, Boston\u2019s top prospect may force its hand. Marcelo Mayer is lighting up the minor leagues with the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox\u2019s Double-A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5152,"featured_media":74379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,926,1071],"tags":[28425,6315,4897,6331,6276,624],"class_list":["post-74333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redsox","category-milb","category-mlb","tag-ceddanne-rafaela","tag-david-hamilton","tag-marcelo-mayer","tag-pablo-reyes","tag-romy-gonzalez","tag-trevor-story"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}