Article: Marcelo Mayer Deserves More Clamor From Red Sox Fans For A Call-Up

[Nick John]

Red Sox fans keep asking when the team will call up Roman Anthony. It's time that conversation starts to include Marcelo Mayer as well.

There’s no disagreement that the Boston Red Sox have a wealth of top prospects that can impact the major league roster. Currently, Kristian Campbell is showcasing that with his play in Boston, while fellow top prospect Roman Anthony is destroying Triple-A pitching while with Worcester.

With a stat line of .313/.451/.588 in only 80 at-bats, Anthony has many calling for his promotion. The young outfielder has showcased an advanced plate approach for someone his age, walking at a 20.6% rate along and appearing near the top of the leaderboards in several notable metrics. Not only is Anthony making contact, but he’s doing so with authority. Currently, the percent of his hits being hard-hit is sitting at 63.3%, while he’s barreling the ball up at 33.3%, numbers that are not usually seen from players at any level of professional baseball.

Lost among the discussion about Anthony is the fellow top prospect playing alongside him in Worcester. Drafted fourth overall in 2021, Marcelo Mayer has dealt with injuries during his time in the Red Sox system and was even leapfrogged by both Anthony and Campbell when it came to the organization’s prospect rankings. Still only 22 years old, Mayer has managed to showcase this season why he was once viewed as a potential first overall pick back in 2021.

Through 21 games on the season Mayer has managed a stat line of .267/.312/.500 to go along with six home runs and a minor-league-leading 28 RBIs. Compared to Anthony’s stats, it’s easy to see why Mayer doesn't stick out as much, especially considering he doesn’t hit it as hard as Anthony. However, Mayer has shown through the first month of the season that he’s ready for a call-up to Boston.

His hard-hit rate is still above most minor league players, sitting at 53.6%, and he’s barreling the ball 11.6% of the time, nowhere near Anthony's ridiculous rate, but an amount that puts him above the majority of his fellow minor leaguers. What may be the most exciting part of his profile is Mayer’s ability to work down pitchers

While he may not walk as much as Anthony (only a 5.4% rate for the season), Mayer doesn’t miss as much when he takes a swing at a pitch. His whiff percentage sits lower than Anthony’s, entering the end of April at 24.4%, and when he does swing at pitches, he’s making more contact on ones that are in the zone. Currently, Mayer’s zone-contact rate is 82.5%, slightly higher than Anthony’s 79.4%. And while you could draw that up to Anthony's proclivity for taking free passes, it is still nice to see Mayer’s ability to make consistent, quality contact against pitches in the zone.

Add to it that Mayer has struck out at a lower rate than Anthony, and the shortstop deserves to be in more conversations as the next top prospect who gets the call to Boston. Defensively, he’s mostly played at shortstop, as he’s made 15 of his 21 appearances there this year and only committed a single error in 56 chances. The Red Sox seem all set for the season at short with Trevor Story, but as an organization that has said they will have the best 26 players on the roster, it doesn’t make sense to leave Mayer down in Triple-A as other players struggle.

Mayer himself may be growing bored of Triple-A as well, having gone on a tear during his last seven games played. In that span dating back to April 18, he accumulated 12 hits, half of which were for extra bases and four of those were home runs. Add 18 RBIs to the pile, and he’s shown that he’s more than ready for big league pitching.

Mayer will be up in the majors before the end of the season; whether that’s soon is up to the Red Sox. One thing is certain, though: more fans should be clamoring for him to be brought up just like they are doing for Anthony. A lineup featuring Campbell, Anthony and Mayer isn't just the future of the Red Sox. It should be the present.

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[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Worthy topic for an article. Some might dismiss RBIs as a lucky stat, because a batter is fortunate to get up with men on base... he still has to drive them in -- something Boston has struggled with all year. Coming through in the clutch may be a myth to some observers, but ballplayers always know there are certain guys more reliable than other stars (just like a reliever who can get the last three outs in the 9th).

The focus on offense is fair, though Mayer's potential impact on the parent club should be more on stabilizing an inconsistent defense.

Marcelo isn't going to bump Bregman, Story or Campbell, unless the latter moves to the outfield, which is also where Anthony is headed (we all like Campbell's bat, and we all know Mayer has a superior glove).

Some major roster shuffling will have to happen before The Big Three of Campbell, Anthony and Mayer are starting in The Show together.

[moonslav59]

I think Mayer has been ML ready since he was called up to AAA, last season, but the injury made it impossible.

That being said, I'm not sitting Bregman or Story, and I'm not moving Campbell to CF to make room for Mayer. If one of these guys could play 1B (I guess Bregman is closer than others,) I'd think about it, but before I move Campbell to CF to make room for Mayer, I'd call up Anthony to play LF and move Duran back to CF.

I don't think we can trade Story to make room for Mayer.