Red Sox's Marcelo Mayer On Pace To Become No. 1 Prospect In MLB Next Season
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Could the Boston Red Sox have the No. 1 prospect in Major League Baseball by this time next year?
Given the recent elevation of some of the top prospects in the game, shortstop Marcelo Mayer is steadily on the rise and could reach the top spot next season.
New York Mets catcher Francisco Álvarez currently tops to the list of prospects according to MLB Pipeline but soon will be elevated off the list with his promotion to the big league club. That got MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo thinking, who could be the No. 1 prospect in baseball this time next year?
He listed Mayer as the third-most likely to top the charts, following New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe and St. Louis Cardinals third baseman/outfielder Jordan Walker.
"He had a quietly solid first full season of pro ball, producing double digit homers and steals across two levels of Single-A ball, at age 19," Mayo said of Mayer. "He’s just scratching the surface."
Mayer currently stands as the No. 7 prospect in the sport with three players ahead of him already reaching the majors. Upon their elevation he's in a race with the aforementioned talents of Volpe and Walker. The biggest difference? Mayer is at the lowest level of play, which helps his case in this situation.
Given Volpe's promotion to Triple-A, it's safe to assume he'll be on the Yankees big league roster a year from now. Walker is at the Double-A level, but has plenty of time to make the jump to St. Louis should he continue to thrive. Both have projected MLB debuts of 2023.
Mayer is the top prospect with an expected debut of 2024 or later, which would make him the top player left on the list one year from now if those projections come to fruition.
The 6-foot-3, 188-pound Red Sox prospect hit .280 with 30 doubles, a pair of triples, 13 home runs, 53 RBIs and a .888 OPS in 91 games between Single-A Salem and High-A Greenville this season.
He's lived up to the billing of being the No. 4 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft thus far, and will get a chance to really prove himself at the upper levels of the minor leagues next season.
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