It’s time for Red Sox to clear path to big leagues for Anthony, Mayer

Red Sox

Red Sox prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer have little left to prove in the minor leagues.

COMMENTARY

There is little left for the Red Sox’s blue-chip prospects in Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer to prove in the minors. 

Both Anthony (MLB.com’s No. 1 prospect) and Mayer (No. 8) have already made compelling cases for a big-league call-up during their respective tenures with Triple-A Worcester in 2025. 

Anthony — who turned 21 last week — is batting .322 with a .450 on-base percentage, six home runs, and 18 RBI over 42 games with the WooSox. Entering Wednesday, the future star outfielder has walked as many times (39) as he has struck out at the plate. 

Mayer has thrived in his first look against Triple-A competition, slugging eight home runs and recording 41 RBI over games while playing strong defense at both shortstop and second base. 

But even with the impressive body of work both Anthony and Mayer have compiled already, they’re still awaiting that call to Fenway Park.

Speaking in March, Red Sox manager Alex Cora acknowledged that strong showings in the minors from both Anthony and Mayer were going to “push us to make decisions” once the regular season began. 

Asked to revisit those comments on Wednesday, Cora acknowledged that those decisions remain on standby — even as the results with the big club continue to slide. 

“That’s a great question,” Cora said ahead of Boston’s eventual 5-1 loss to the Mets.  “I understand where you’re coming from. We are where we’re at. Right now, we’ve got some guys here that are playing great baseball. We understand at one point, I do believe they’re going to be part of this. As of right now, they haven’t made that decision.”

The absence of Anthony and Mayer in Boston’s lineup has not been the sole determinant in Boston’s pedestrian 25-26 record so far in 2025. The Red Sox’s starting rotation beyond Garrett Crochet has left a lot to be desired, while the bullpen has been prone to severe implosions at critical times. 

But ahead of a game where the Red Sox could only muster one run and whiffed 16 times at the plate, Cora’s declaration of several key fixtures playing “great baseball” sounds hollow. 

Yes, the Red Sox have bodies in place who are currently blocking both an infielder in Mayer and an outfielder in Anthony. 

But as uncomfortable as it might be to uproot established veterans, the case should be made that the Red Sox — in desperate need of a spark — should start moving heaven and earth to bring their two top young talents up to The Show. 

One way to reunite Anthony and Mayer with fellow basell wunderkind Kristian Campbell? 

Continue the process of moving Campbell over to first base, slot Ceddanne Rafaela to the infield … and take Trevor Story out of the equation. 

It’s far from an ideal situation, whether it involves moving a legitimate Gold-Glove-calibur talent like Rafaela out of the outfield or telling an established leader in Story to sit on the pine (or consider a possible DFA). 

But it’s hard to ignore the numbers at this point — be it Mayer and Anthony’s production (and patience) at the plate, or the lack of results at the big-league level from several stalwarts.

Story, in particular, is going to put the Red Sox in a tough spot in the coming weeks.

As good as his defensive work at short is, his play at the plate has been a net-negative for his team for over a month now. Over his last 25 games, Story is batting just 13-for-100 (.130) with one extra-base hit, six RBI, and 36 strikeouts.

Replacing Story with Mayer at short would conceivably not result in a major drop-off on the defensive side of the ball and offer a higher upside when it comes to pop and production at the plate. 

Upside is also the name of the game with moving Rafaela in order to accommodate Anthony. As unfortunate as it would be taking Rafaela out of center, the Red Sox need to find a way to add an on-base machine like Anthony into their lineup. 

Will it be easy to allocate regular reps to both Anthony and Mayer given the current logjam in place? Nope. 

But as Boston continues to tread water in a season that opened with so much promise, Cora and the Red Sox are running out of time — and excuses — to pull this team out of an extended malaise. 

Let’s see what the kids can do.