The Boston Red Sox’s “Big Three” prospects have joined the big league squad in spring training and they’ve been a fixture of their 2025 Grapefruit League games.
Much of the hype around them has focused on Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell — the two with the likeliest chance of making the Opening Day roster. But Marcelo Mayer has been making some noise.
In the Red Sox’s Feb. 27 spring training game against the Detroit Tigers, Mayer went 3-for-3 with three RBI and a home run. His hits came off two of the Tigers’ big league pitchers, Jack Flaherty and Kenta Maeda.
After Campbell walked in the first inning, Mayer cracked a high triple over Ben Malgeri’s head in center field. Campbell scored from first and Mayer’s big early hit got the Sox on the board quickly against Flaherty.
Marcelo Mayer goes 3-for-3 with a homer in Red Sox spring training game against Tigers
Marcelo Mayer’s At-bat ending with a 2-Run HR off of Kenta Maeda pic.twitter.com/u6T9MxZ2L1
— Brian Dankese (@briandankese) February 27, 2025
Detroit swapped Flaherty for Maeda in the third inning, which only seemed to benefit the shortstop prospect. In the fourth frame, Mayer singled off Maeda but ended up stranded on third base at the end of the inning. Mayer batted again in the fifth inning and cashed in on a two-run homer to right field to score Anthony.
Mayer was pulled in the sixth inning and finished his outing a double shy of a cycle. Anthony also posted a solid day at the plate with a hit, a run and an RBI.
Mayer has never played a game at the Triple-A level because a lower-back injury ended his 2024 season early. Even without any experience at the highest level of the minor leagues, the shortstop prospect has performed well against big-league pitching. Mayer is batting .455/.500/.909 with a 1.409 OPS with four RBI in four spring training games — a small sample size, but every success counts for someone who could potentially make the Opening Day roster.
