Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Forgotten First-Round Pick Off To Blistering Start Following Prolonged Injury

Boston has a post-hype sleeper in the making

Scott Neville

Mar 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; A general view of Fenway Park before a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; A general view of Fenway Park before a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports
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The Boston Red Sox have been a middling club this season largely due to chief baseball officer Craig Breslow holding off on investing heavily in the free agent or trade markets until the big three prospects arrive.

The trio consists of shortstop Marcelo Mayer, outfielder Roman Anthony and catcher Kyle Teel of course -- two first-rounders and a compensatory second-rounder.

However, there was another first-round pick in one of those draft classes -- a player who has not received much hype due to his early inability to stay on the field: shortstop Mikey Romero.

Romero was drafted No. 24 overall in the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft, 55 picks ahead of Anthony. The 20-year-old is the Red Sox's No. 11 prospect according to MLB Pipeline -- falling behind the rest of the pack largely due to back ailments that limited him to just 34 games last season and delayed his start in 2024.

The promising middle infielder returned to action on May 7 and is off to a fantastic start. Romero is hitting .379 with four extra-base hits including a home run, six RBIs and a 1.040 OPS in seven games for High-A Greenville.

The breakout season in the making has been highlighted by a three-hit day on Wednesday, which included a double, home run and three RBIs during the Drive's intense 14-12 extra-innings victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

The Red Sox are putting all of their belief in Mayer to become a franchise shortstop -- who has lived up to the hype since the day he was drafted. If Romero continues his strong start, he'll force Boston to involve him in the game plans in the near future as well.

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Scott Neville

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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