The Boston Red Sox recently got the unfortunate news that top prospect Marcelo Mayer was being shut down for the rest of the 2024 season due to a back injury that has kept him out since July 30.
Boston selected Mayer in the first round of the 2021 MLB draft out of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California, and after scuffling at Double-A Portland last year and dealing with injuries it appeared that he had turned a corner in 2024, hitting .307 with an .850 OPS, eight home runs, 38 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 77 games before the injury.
With his season ending, Mayer isn't feeling down. In fact, he's focused on 2025.
“I fully expect to have a very normal offseason,” Mayer told The Boston Globe's Alex Speier. “You can be sure I’m going to work hard this offseason to come back stronger than ever next season.”
While injured, Mayer was promoted to Triple-A Worcester along with two other top prospects (Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony) and one more (Kristian Campbell) joined them shortly after. However, Mayer never got to make his debut at that level.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora sees what the 21-year-old could be in the MLB, but he's not focused on that at the moment now either.
“There’s a lot of potential there,” Cora said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of other things that we have to work on — the injuries, obviously. From my end, concerning, to be honest with you. We’ve just got to make sure we keep him healthy. That’s the most important thing.”
Health is the biggest question for Mayer at this point in his career. He appeared in just 91 games in 2022 between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville then played in just 78 last year between Greenville and Portland. In 2024, his season ended at 77 games.
As the Red Sox look to build their core for the future, that's something they'll definitely have to consider over the offseason and into 2025. They've dealt with too many injuries to want to keep doing this going forward when things are supposed to get better.
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