Marcelo Mayer, and his gorgeous hair, drafted by Sox / 4 Overall
- Thread starter AlNipper49
- Start date
Ranked as #1 as a hitter...and #1 as a defender on mlb.com: https://www.mlb.com/news/top-tools-in-2021-mlb-draft
Status of Sox Farm System = upgraded!
Status of Sox Farm System = upgraded!
After all the Leiter steering his way to the Sox talk, it sounds like Mayer ends up the beneficiary and that the Sox are going to pony up a big bonus for him. If the Pirates went Davis because Mayer wouldn't cut them a deal, the Sox must be giving him full slot.
I never thought Mayer would be available at #4, but it's a home run pick. The Sox aren't getting a chance at a talent like him again for a long time if we're lucky.
I never thought Mayer would be available at #4, but it's a home run pick. The Sox aren't getting a chance at a talent like him again for a long time if we're lucky.
Most mock drafts had him going 1. I sure as hell didn’t expect him to be an option for the Sox. Apparently they did, though.
Aside from some whispers that the Sox would love to have him slip (duh), I think every mock I saw had him 1-1.
Amazing to get a guy who might be #1 in the system today (or upon signing).
As I posted in the draft thread, He currently projects as C Seager on defense and Yelich on offense
anything a fraction of that and it’s a steal of a pick. Plus he’s dreamy. Couldn’t be more stoked
So to which minor league team will he go and about when will he appear in his first game? Should be more or less right away? I don't really recall how soon after the draft players make their MiLB debut.
He has to sign by Aug 1. He'll probably get a few games in the Florida Complex League in August. It's possible they could send him to low-A Salem but, more likely, he'll start there next year. Yorke (1st rounder from 2020, top pick) didn't play after he was drafted due to the cancellation of last year's minor league season but started this year in Salem. Both Chavis and Casas (last two 1st round high school position players before Yorke) played in the complex league before starting the following year in low-A.
Of Kobe crash Alltobelli, who lost 3 family members.
View: https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1414369898466316292?s=21
View: https://twitter.com/alexspeier/status/1414369898466316292?s=21
I wanted Leiter, but damn. How can you not be excited about taking a positional player with this type of upside. A year after taking Yorke - a surprising pick for sure, but remember Vanderbilt's head coach saying he thought Yorke had the best HS bat in the draft. And now he's been turning it on finally.
Great infusion of talent lately by Bloom & company.
Great infusion of talent lately by Bloom & company.
A linear developmental path would look something like this:
Yr 0 (age 18) - complex league
Yr 1 (19) - low-A/high-A
Yr 2 (20) - high-A/AA
Yr 3 (21) - AA/AAA
Yr 4 (22) - AAA/majors
I note that Bobby Witt, Jr, who was drafted #2 in 2019 (at age 19), played the complex league in 2019, skipped 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season and started 2021 in AA. So it's entirely possible that Mayer could move faster than the linear path. KC tends to push its prospects quickly.
Agreed. And he's nowhere near as handsome as the current Red Sox shortstop. People really love their prospects around here.
Scouts are sometimes right, and sometimes wrong. But much of this "natural instincts" stuff sounds like "calm eyes."
Best case scenario he becomes a huge piece of a championship team moving forward
but being the fact that he's already the #37 prospect in baseball, worst case scenario he could eventually be the centerpiece of a package for a star
but being the fact that he's already the #37 prospect in baseball, worst case scenario he could eventually be the centerpiece of a package for a star
It's okay to be excited when the Red Sox select the kid that was the consensus #1 draft prospect.
Curious to hear people’s thoughts about the Sox taking Mayer over Lawler (who is thought to have higher upside according to some reports).
Much happier with Mayer better upside as a hitter. Lawlar is almost a year older with more swing and miss. On the other hand, Lawlar’s more athletic. I think if you’re going with a high school bat, which is inherently a little risky, take the better pure hit tool.
Here is the full list of high school shortstops drafted in the top 10 picks since 2010:
- Bobby Witt Jr (MLB #7 prospect)
- CJ Abrams (MLB #8 prospect)
- Royce Lewis (MLB #17 prospect)
- Brendan Rodgers (MLB #10 prospect before his 2019 debut)
- Nick Gordon (ehh… but at least he made it to the majors)
- Carlos Correa
- Francisco Lindor
- Javier Baez
- Manny Machado
So you have 4 all-stars, a bunch of blue chip prospects and Nick Gordon.
Not bad company.
This exactly.
Look at @ehaz’s list of recent SS drafted top 10 above. We can’t know how this pick will turn out. No one can, of course. But in the moment it’s the best possible outcome in many ways.
As it became clear that the 2020 “season” would be a disaster for the Sox, the hope was that they would put themselves in the best possible position to draft a franchise cornerstone with (we hope) the only Top 5 draft selection we’ll see in the near future. Enter Mayer, the consensus #1 pick in the draft for a reason, picked as such by well-respected sites and scouts. That’s cause for excitement, and — this part may be more controversial — to me, it shouldn’t be entirely contingent on how it pans out. Sports and life itself are inherently uncertain. ACLs and wrists and bones are fragile, human emotions and responses to fame and fortune are unpredictable, and projecting what any of us at 18 years old will be in 5-10 years is always an educated guess.
So the Sox took a gamble on one of the best possible bets to become a good player. This is, in my view, a great result.
I live a couple miles from him, my son played against him this year. Speed isn't there, but the bat and defense are legit. I think the Seager comp is a really good one. Everyone has him sticking at short, but I can see him shifting to third as a plus defender there because I would worry that his size and lack of speed might translate to more limited range as he fills out (but the hands and arm are there).
What impressed me as an eye test, was how much he was feared and pitched around, and didn't leave his zone for it, and then when he got a mistake he didn't often miss. Very very mature and polished for a high school kid, both physically and with his skills. But despite how competitive the baseball is here (my freshman son got to face 90+ three times in ten days), he will have to go through the system as any high school hitter does, and we can see where we are after 1000 pro plate appearances. Seager got 1700 with success at every level before his callup at age 21, and I would watch Mayer to have a similar hot start and consistent production.
Does anyone know how the reorganized minors and the late draft will impact what he might do this summer? Seager for example got 200 pro PAs the summer of his draft at rookie league.
What impressed me as an eye test, was how much he was feared and pitched around, and didn't leave his zone for it, and then when he got a mistake he didn't often miss. Very very mature and polished for a high school kid, both physically and with his skills. But despite how competitive the baseball is here (my freshman son got to face 90+ three times in ten days), he will have to go through the system as any high school hitter does, and we can see where we are after 1000 pro plate appearances. Seager got 1700 with success at every level before his callup at age 21, and I would watch Mayer to have a similar hot start and consistent production.
Does anyone know how the reorganized minors and the late draft will impact what he might do this summer? Seager for example got 200 pro PAs the summer of his draft at rookie league.
Reminds me of one of the years the Bruins had Toronto’s pick from the Kessel trade.The Leafs had disappointingly played well enough to push the pick all the way to 9 (after handing over the #2 the year before).
Led to much gnashing of teeth at the time, but sure enough one of the best players in the draft (Dougie Hamilton) slipped to them after every mock had him gone by then.
If they were never really going to have a chance for Leiter to slip past 2, this is best case scenario given the “unfortunate” extra wins they got.
Funny to think about all the scouting that goes into deciding between all the different guys you expect available at 4 only to have the consensus #1 make it easy for you. I feel like last year may be closer to the kind of thing we can expect from Chaim in future drafts with lower picks, but I’m very glad he went chalk here. Whether they had other plans up their sleeve, there was no passing this up. If he is hitting well into the next season or two, his ranking figures to skyrocket even from 37 given the draft pedigree, which makes him super valuable even if he never steps foot in a Boston uniform.
Edit: koufax, it sounds like he is interested in getting a deal done quickly to get on the field ASAP:
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As my daughters and I were coming out of the Kenmore Square MBTA station before going to yesterday’s game, amidst a mass of Red Sox fans all heading towards Fenway, my brain picked up on a figure coming toward us that somehow seemed familiar (I’m great with faces). He had sunglasses on, had his gaze towards the ground, and was walking briskly while chatting on his Iphone that was close to his face. I turned to my girls and said “that is Chaim Bloom, the General Manager of the Red Sox”. They, of course, had no idea and could care less. My story will change over the next 25 years, as it will evolve into “. . . . and he was talking to Hall of Famer Marcelo Mayer telling him that he was going to be drafted by the Boston Red Sox in about 8 hours. . . .”
Presuming he signs, Mayer will likely get a taste of the Florida complex league this summer per Toboni:
https://www.audacy.com/weei/sports/red-sox/what-marcelo-mayer-means-to-the-future-of-the-red-sox
Take Speier’s quote with a grain of salt. Of course he’s lifted weights! From the Athletic:
Edit: the quote was from an Alex Speier twitter quote of Paul Toboni
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