Red Sox
“He had a good season, did a good job. But honestly, I didn’t know.”
Marcelo Mayer has all the tools to be a future franchise shortstop for the Red Sox.
But Boston’s top prospect is developing a bit of a reputation of getting stung by the injury bug.
Mayer — tabbed as the No. 5 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and the No. 2 prospect by The Athletic’s Keith Law — is “likely” done for the 2024 season due to a lingering lumbar strain injury.
The talented infielder was called up to Triple-A Worcester alongside other top prospects in Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony earlier this month, but did not log a single at-bat with Worcester due to his injury.
He last appeared in a game on July 30 with Portland — closing out the 2024 season slashing .307/.370/.480 with 28 doubles, eight home runs, and 38 RBI in 77 games in Double-A.
Mayer’s strong numbers with Portland were encouraging this summer, but this now marks the second year in a row in which the fourth-overall pick in the 2021 draft has seen his season end prematurely due to injuries.
Mayer’s 2023 season was cut short due to a lingering shoulder issue that he tried playing through. As a result, Mayer only played in 78 total games in 2023 — including a lackluster 43-game stretch in Portland where he batted just .189 with six home runs and 20 RBI.
Even with his high ceiling as a multi-tool stalwart at the big-league level, Mayer’s repeated season-ending injuries do create some cause for concern — something that Alex Cora acknowledged on Monday.
“I mean, obviously not ideal,” Cora said of Mayer’s latest injury, per MLB’s Ian Browne. “He had a good season, did a good job. But honestly, I didn’t know. I’ll talk to (player development) and see what happens. But getting him right is the most important thing.
“There’s a lot of potential there. There’s things that we have to work on. (The) injuries, obviously, from my end, (are) concerning, to be honest with you. Just have to make sure we can keep him healthy.”
The Red Sox do have several other intriguing prospects on the cusp of making it to Fenway Park next season — including Teel, Anthony, and Kristian Campbell.
But Mayer’s potential arrival to MLB could be hindered if he continues to spend extended stretches on the IL every summer.
Even with back-to-back seasons for Mayer now ended early, Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham stressed on NESN’s “310 to Left” podcast on Tuesday that the organization isn’t concerned about recurring injury woes for their top prospect.
“The original feeling for Marcelo was that it was day-to-day,” Abraham told podcast Tom Caron and Alex Speier. “Little bit of a tweaked lower-back issue, felt like he’d be fine. I think balancing how he felt with the work that was accompanying that, we just got to a point where he really was plateauing with the improvement and needed to get a little more deeper into what was going on. Got an MRI and that’s where we found out more formally about the lumbar strain.
“Certainly unfortunate for Marcelo, but the good news is we know what the issue is. We know why he was unable to get comfortable whether that be running the bases, more aggressive batting practice or fielding. He’s in Fort Myers now. He’ll continue to do treatment down there.
“We expect a full recovery. It’s just going to take a little bit of time now with the end of the season. So, certainly frustrating for him and for us. But at the end of the day, we’re happy we know what the issue is. We have a great group in Fort Myers to take care of him and I know he’s really excited to work to get through this and be prepared for the offseason and next year.”
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