Ranking the MLB readiness of the Red Sox top 5 prospects

Baseball America's top five prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization do not appear to be major league ready. Further, I believe that they got the top five wrong.

Marcelo Mayer, shortstop

Marcelo Mayer, who has been working at shortstop, is not ready for the major leagues and will probably start the season at Double-A Portland. There is no chance that he sniffs the major leagues this season, other than being on the Red Sox spring training roster. He won't be there long before he is reassigned to minor-league camp.

Mayer is coming off of a left shoulder injury that saw him miss the last month of the season in Portland. Mayer worked out in the offseason and his left shoulder was rehabilitated in Fort Myers, but the inflammation had been bothering him all season. That could be a major reason why he only slashed .189/.254/.355 after his promotion from High-A Greenville.

The former first-round pick of the Sox in the 2021 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft has risen to the top of the Red Sox prospects, according to BA, but it appears as though they are the only ones that are in love with the current Sea Dog. BA has him ranked as the 17th best product in MLB, but none of the other periodicals or rating systems has him rated that high. In all fairness, we should judge Mayer when he is at his best physically, and not based upon what he was like when he was injured.

"“It’s tough. I mean, everybody wants to be on the field,” he said last week of his 2023 season. “Everybody wants to play. This is what we do, this is what we love. So when something happens and you get hurt, it does suck. But it’s part of the game and I think you learn and grow from injuries. So I think I’ve learned a lot from this last season.”"

- Marcelo Mayer, Red Sox SS prospect

Despite BA's ranking, Mayer is not even the prospect who has the best chance of making an impact in the Red Sox organization. That designation belongs to outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela, who BA ranks fourth, but I have at first on my analysis of Boston's prospects.

The shortstop knew that 2023 was not a banner year for him, despite the injury. He was not that good before the injury either. He is still young and has plenty of baseball ahead of him, but even he acknowledges that the season was not what he expected.

"“At the end of the day — my shoulder was hurting a little bit,” Mayer said. “But that’s no excuse, I think. I should have said something earlier and the product that I put on the field is the product that people are gonna see. Obviously, that wasn’t the best product, but I’m looking to put that in the past and just get ready for this.”"

- Marcelo Mayer, Red Sox SS prospect

Mayer will more than likely return to Portland to start the season, but for some reason is still on the fast track to the major leagues, according to BA. However, with the left shoulder injury that he is rehabilitating and the fact that he is finally fit enough to play ball again, I see the Red Sox taking it slow with Mayer and not pushing him that hard. It might be 2025 or 2026 before he becomes a regular at Fenway Park.