Marcelo Mayer Has Altered His Swing Path, and the Red Sox Should Benefit Soon

[Jack Lindsay]

The Boston Red Sox have scuffled at the plate to begin their season, leading to an ugly 2-7 record after the first three series of action in 2026. Marcelo Mayer was oft-discussed this spring, primarily by manager Alex Cora, who never gave a firm answer as to whether or not the young infielder had a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Evidently, he earned that spot despite not being the starting second baseman on Opening Day. Cora has given him the nod in all but two games this season, and he has appeared in all nine, making improvements in his swing that warrant real confidence moving forward.

While his numbers might not jump off the page, slashing .227/.280/.500 in his first nine games, he has been drilling the ball all over the yard with a 94.8 mph average exit velocity and a 23.1 percent barrel rate. In a small sample, his three doubles rank seventh in the American League, and he sits third on the team in slugging percentage.

What he has done to create those changes in quality of contact is alter his attack angle. Statcast defines Attack Angle as:

"The vertical direction that the sweet spot of the bat is traveling at the moment it hits the baseball... A higher attack angle, assuming the bat makes square contact with the baseball, is more likely to result in a fly ball. A lower or negative attack angle would be more likely to produce a ground ball."

Two of the five players tied for first in average attack angle last season were Eugenio Suárez and Cal Raleigh at 18 degrees, and both ranked top five in fly ball rate as well. The key to hitting is not merely lifting the ball, but doing so consistently and with authority. Mayer has done both.

He has increased his attack angle from seven degrees to ten. The results are already visible: his groundball rate has dropped from 49.4 percent to 38.5 percent, while his fly ball rate has jumped from 33.3 percent all the way to 61.5 percent.

Small samples demand caution, especially with hitters. A three-for-four afternoon can reshape a season line in an instant. That is precisely why the focus here is on approach and mechanical adjustments rather than the slash line. Swing path and batted ball data are the early indicators that foreshadow a player's trajectory, and on both fronts, Mayer is trending in the right direction. His 23.1 percent barrel rate is also worth trusting more than most early-season numbers, as barrel rate stabilizes faster than batting average, meaning the hard contact he's been producing is not just early season noise.

The urgency of that trend is hard to overstate given the state of this offense. Heading into their series finale against the Padres, the Red Sox ranked last in MLB in runs scored with 24, sat 21st in wRC+ at 87, posted the fifth-highest strikeout rate in the league at 28.1 percent, and ranked second-worst in high-leverage situations according to FanGraphs' clutch metric. This lineup desperately needs someone to catch fire.

Mayer is hitting like a man who is due. An early spark from him, a player no one penciled in as a catalyst entering the year, could be exactly what this offense needs to find its footing.

View full article

[TedYazPapiMookie]

Lots of hype and no performance.  That's Mayer's motto.  He didn't deserve to be the fourth pick but Bloom was a horrible GM.  The front office has tried to cover for Mayer's shortcomings in the field in the minors and his mediocre hitting in the minors considering he was the 4th pick in the draft.  Campbell in 2025 got shuffled into oblivion because in 2024 he embarrassed Mayer by completely outperforming both Mayer and Anthony in the minors and the quick demotion in 2025 was all about expectations.  NOBODY expected Campbell to be the elite prospect going into 2025 and they had to prove he wasn't by over-reacting to his struggles after he put up huge numbers for the first month of the season.  Devers never got pulled like Campbell and his fielding was significantly worse than what Campbell did in his debut at 2B not SS Campbell's normal position. 

Mayer has so many things going against him that he should be back in AAA.  First, his 3rd or is it fourth wrist injury that ended things in 2025 is one that doesn't usually heal well.  His power will be significantly reduced by it and he wasn't that good a hitter anyway based on his minor league performance.  His fielding percentage was .953 slightly better than Devers' minor league fielding percentage and yet he was marketed by the team to be a good defender using fabricated estimates that have no basis in reality.  Cora is pushing this guy just like he did Devers.  Devers NEVER could field but Cora suggested he was improving all the time.  Those were lies.  Mayer is a mediocre player not a star and it's apparent to baseball people not dedicated to hyping him.  Campbell has more skills.  Anthony has far more skills.  Rafaela is a far better player, and Duran is a far better player.  

Benintendi came up and could hit well initially until the Red Sox coaching staff helped him make adjustments and he lost his skill to hit to all fields.  Mayer is starting out with limited hitting skills so to think the coaching staff will improve him is a joke.  Also, where was this dedication to the player with regard to Campbell who actually torched the minor league pitchers compared to Mayer?  I guess the poor kid that overachieves isn't nearly as important as the rich influential kid who purchased his success prior to the draft.  It's a common story these days.  Select High School programs cater to the rich and all the publicity that can be bought by parents to move their child up the rankings.  It's commonplace since 1990.  I don't see the trend changing so I try my best to point out the under privileged players like Campbell who perform at high levels despite NO SUPPORT from the organization.  That's why I'm rooting for Cora to be fired and the ownership to sell to somebody who knows baseball and can implement a system that emphasizes performance not politics when evaluating players. 

I say sell high and move Mayer before he becomes the next Jeter Downs.  While they are at it, maybe they can trade Abreu for Teel so we don't have to watch Narvaez and Wong struggle all year.