From the moment Marcelo Mayer was drafted No. 4 overall in 2021, Red Sox fans have anxiously awaited his eventual arrival as a big league cornerstone.<\/p>\n
Now, after an up-and-down rookie season, Mayer will have an opportunity to prove he\u2019s ready to become part of the franchise\u2019s present, not just its future.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Fort Myers, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Mayer will be in the mix for a starting job this spring.\u00a0He said the club is confident Mayer will be a good defender at whatever position he plays, and that he looks good after an offseason rehabbing the wrist injury that cut his 2025 season short.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a chance to come into camp and compete and show us what he\u2019s capable of doing,\u201d Breslow told reporters in Fort Myers on Wednesday.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of excitement around him for a long time and we\u2019re looking forward for that to come out in his play.\u201d<\/p>\n
With no established starter at either second or third base, Mayer is expected to get reps at both throughout the spring. He and new arrival Caleb Durbin are the early favorites to start at those positions, though who plays where will be determined over the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n
Breslow also said he looks bigger and stronger and has been moving well, but that keeping Mayer healthy will be a top priority.<\/p>\n
While nobody has ever questioned Mayer\u2019s talent, his durability has been a problem throughout his professional career. Mayer has yet to play more than 91 games in a season since joining the Red Sox and has ended the year on the injured list in each of the past three seasons.<\/p>\n
To help better prepare his body for the rigors of a full big league season, Mayer has made getting bigger and stronger a top priority this winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of the main goals I set for myself going into the offseason. I weighed in at 218 (pounds) right now, which is by far the heaviest I\u2019ve ever weighed in my life,\u201d Mayer said last month at Fenway Fest, adding that he finished last season at 208. \u201cI feel great, stronger and faster than ever, so I feel like my body is in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Mayer said second and third base have a lot of differences, he\u2019s expressed a willingness to play both. For now Breslow said the club is comfortable seeing who fits best where, and if it comes time to pick one spot for Mayer to focus on, that\u2019s something they\u2019ll decide later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll work backwards from what is best for the team and what is best for each individual and you hope those things overlap, but Marcelo has also been pretty outspoken about his willingness to do whatever is needed, whatever is best for the team,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cIf that\u2019s playing one position, if that\u2019s moving around, if that\u2019s learning a new position, I think he\u2019s looking for a way to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the moment Marcelo Mayer was drafted No. 4 overall in 2021, Red Sox fans have anxiously awaited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,3615,6930,1248,4,89,2543],"class_list":{"0":"post-566605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-caleb-durbin","13":"tag-craig-breslow","14":"tag-marcelo-mayer","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-red-sox","17":"tag-redsox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116053314420529177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}