The Marcelo Mayer Panic With Red Sox Has Already Gotten Out of Hand

The Boston Red Sox shortstop arguably is going to be just fine, despite a slow first half of the season.

Jun 22, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Boston Red Sox infielder Marcelo Mayer (11) celebrates after a double to center field in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox aren't where they want to be right now.

That's just a fact. It's June 26 and rather than sitting among the top contenders in the American League, Boston is near the basement. After beating the New York Yankees on Thursday, Boston is now 33-46 on the season. Right now, the Red Sox are five games out of an American League Wild Card spot. That's not terrible, but obviously, it's not where Boston expected to find itself.

With the club struggling overall and injuries all over the place, that has only intensified the spotlight on guys throughout the roster. Someone who has felt this is shortstop Marcelo Mayer. The 23-year-old is in his first full season in the majors. Also, he switched positions from second base to shortstop when Trevor Story went down and underwent sports hernia surgery. Now, Mayer played shortstop in the minors, but he spent the spring preparing to take over second base. So, it's not as if it was some seamless and easy transition.

Mayer has taken a lot of heat this season. Right now, he's slashing .220/.282/.312 with a .594 OPS, three homers, 22 RBIs and 10 doubles in 70 games played. On Friday, MassLive.com's Sean McAdam shared a column with Mayer being a focus. In it, McAdam noted that Mayer has some "detractors" within the organization.

Marcelo Mayer Is Taking A Lot Of Heat

Jun 24, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Boston Red Sox short stop Marcelo Mayer (11) doubles in fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

"To be sure, Mayer has his detractors within the organization," McAdam wrote. "Some question his mental toughness and his tendency to withdraw during slumps. Others wonder if he couldn’t do a better job making himself more available through the day-to-day minor physical setbacks that inevitably occur. Those are the expectations that come with being a Top 5 pick with all the praise and attention that goes with that designation."

Arguably, Mayer has gotten too much heat this season. Last season, it was a point over and over how the Red Sox didn't want to have to rely on their young guys to carry the offense. That was a point that was made when Roman Anthony and Mayer were still down in Triple-A when there were questions about when they would be brought up.

This past offseason, the Red Sox let Alex Bregman walk. They added Willson Contreras, which has been a great move. Also, they went out and got Caleb Durbin, which didn't look great early this season, but has turned a corner. With Story out as well and the Red Sox not adding multiple veteran bats, the offense is relying probably too heavily on young guys. Plus, veterans, like Jarren Duran, are struggling. So that puts even more heat on the other guys in the lineup.

All of this is to say, Mayer is just 23 years old. He has all the talent in the world and has played in just 114 total big league games, dating back to last season. He needs time to adjust to the big league game. In Boston, it's hard to have patience. The club is supposed to be in win-now mode, but didn't put itself in the best position from an offensive standpoint and now is relying very heavily on young guys, in part because of the injuries that have popped up and in part because they didn't add enough in the offseason.

In professional sports, there are always going to be overreactions. When it comes to Mayer, the chatter around him feels like one of those overreactions.