Marcelo Mayer stayed the highest-rated Boston Red Sox prospect when Baseball America came out with its updated prospect rankings last week.
The 21-year-old shortstop was situated at No. 10 overall with Roman Anthony (No. 17), Kyle Teel (No. 27) and Kristian Campbell (No. 89) following behind Mayer on the list.
It was nice recognition for Mayer, but one he honestly doesn’t put much stock into.
“I think everyone here sees the prospect rankings but to be honest, I don’t really give a (expletive) about the rankings,” Mayer told Beyond The Monster’s Andrew Parker. “The biggest thing for me is getting to the big leagues. When you are a big leaguer, nobody cares about what your ranking was when you were in the minor leagues. I don’t really focus on it, but it is an honor to be ranked that high, but it’s not something I put much thought into.”
Getting to the big leagues doesn’t seem too far off into the future for Mayer. He has delivered a bounce-back season with Double-A Portland after his 2023 campaign came to a premature end due to a shoulder injury.
Mayer is leading the Eastern League with a .306 batting average and 25 doubles to go along with seven home runs and 36 RBIs in 69 games this season. That effort earned him another invite to Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game.
A call up to Triple-A Worcester could come soon for Mayer, but he doesn’t seem focused on that, either. He knows that if he does his job in the batter’s box and in the field, everything else will take care of itself.
“It has been awesome,” Mayer told Parker about this season. “It has been a great vibe every single day in the clubhouse. It has been a really fun season and as a group we get along super well. I always say it feels like a travel ball team just because of how much fun we have on and off the field.”
