{"id":1156,"date":"2026-05-25T09:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2026-05-25T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:34:25","slug":"one-year-into-his-big-league-career-the-red-sox-marcelo-mayer-remains-a-work-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1156","title":{"rendered":"One year into his big league career, the Red Sox\u2019 Marcelo Mayer remains a work in progress"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>Sunday marked a two-fold milestone for Marcelo Mayer. On the one-year anniversary of his big league debut, he made his first career big league start at shortstop.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1154\">The Revolution need another forward who can make them unpredictable on the wings<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>What does Mayer remember of his callup between games of a doubleheader on May 24, 2025, when Alex Bregman\u2019s placement on the injured list prompted a scramble from Worcester to Boston?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThat was definitely a special day, but it honestly didn\u2019t feel like my debut, because that day was so crazy,\u201d recalled Mayer. \u201cI had, like, 30 minutes to get ready for my first big league game. I didn\u2019t even know where my shoes were five minutes before the game, I didn\u2019t have a locker because it wasn\u2019t ready. I was in the middle of the clubhouse, scrambling for my stuff, which I guess helped with the nerves.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>\u201cTime has definitely flown by, I feel like, since that [debut].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Yet during that year, progress has been deliberate. Mayer remains a player looking to live up to not only the hype and potential that came with being taken as the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, but his own expectations.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>The Red Sox have lost their way this season at Fenway Park<\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cI have the highest standards for myself I possibly can. Whatever people\u2019s standards are of me, mine are higher \u2014 trust me,\u201d said Mayer. \u201cAs players, as athletes, we all want to perform to the best level that we\u2019re capable of, and that we know we can. When you\u2019re not [doing that], it gets frustrating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Defensively, he\u2019s made an exceptional transition to the big leagues. Though he\u2019d spent the majority of his amateur and minor league careers at short, he looked like a hand-in-glove fit at third base in 2025 and second base through two months of 2026. He\u2019s an asset in the field, part of why the Sox feel comfortable with him at shortstop in Trevor Story\u2019s absence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mayer takes pride in supporting his pitchers with his glove, but is dissatisfied with his performance as a hitter. He finished Sunday hitting .214\/.277\/.300 in 2026, and .221\/.275\/.348 in 91 career games. He\u2019s been one of the least productive regulars in baseball.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cObviously, I want to hit better,\u201d said Mayer. \u201cI\u2019ve always prided myself on hitting, and I feel like people right now know me as a defense-first guy, when that\u2019s not really who I\u2019ve ever been. My defense has just been that much better than my bat, and that\u2019s what people see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>People \u2014 including other teams \u2014 see vulnerabilities. Though Mayer has demonstrated solid swing decisions, he\u2019s also had glaring holes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He\u2019s 1 for 35 since his callup on changeups, a .029 average that is the worst in the big leagues. He\u2019s 2 for 34 on \u201cshadow zone\u201d pitches near or just below the bottom of the strike zone, including 1 for 19 this season. (That hit came Sunday, when he ripped a slider for an RBI single in a 6-5 loss to the Twins.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1152\">Wyndham Clark shoots 60 to win Byron Nelson, pulling away from Si Woo Kim and Scottie Scheffler<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Celo rips one down the line! pic.twitter.com\/Rfzc5ngGqx<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Red Sox (@RedSox) May 24, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Pitchers are well aware of those struggles. Of the 227 batters who entered Sunday having seen at least 500 pitches, the 28 percent usage of offspeed pitches (changeups and splitters) against Mayer was the highest of any hitter. The 18 percent rate of pitches in the shadow zone along the bottom edge of the plate ranked 22nd.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Mayer knows those deficiencies and is working to close his holes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cObviously, it hasn\u2019t gone the way that I wanted offensively so far, but it\u2019s early,\u201d said Mayer. \u201cWe all want to be really good right [away]. But looking back in my [minor league] career, I\u2019ve always struggled going up to new levels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe biggest thing is just not making a big deal out of it, and trusting myself as a hitter, because it\u2019s not my first rodeo struggling in a new level. I feel like I still don\u2019t have that many at-bats. I\u2019m approaching a year, but at the same time, I don\u2019t have a year\u2019s worth of at-bats. The biggest thing is just learning with every single at-bat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There are no guarantees what Mayer will become. Numerous standout prospects never lived up to their hype. But many struggled toward the beginning of their careers before establishing themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As such, the Sox remain mindful of what Mayer might become. His minor league track record of line-to-line extra-base hits and elite bat speed suggest power potential that would be difference-making in a lineup short on thump.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But while the Sox remain optimistic those abilities will emerge in the big leagues, they know Mayer\u2019s path to improvement doesn\u2019t follow a set schedule.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou can see this guy hitting 20 [homers] at some point in his career, and it\u2019s not just one year that this guy\u2019s capable of [doing that],\u201d said interim third base coach Chad Epperson, who managed Mayer in Double-A in 2023-24. \u201cI just think he\u2019s still in that growing stage of, what\u2019s the game telling me what to do and what do I need to do? Sometimes he just wants to force the issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWould it be nice for him to be the Marcelo we know? Yeah, but that\u2019s [going to happen] in time, in time.\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1150\">What we know and don\u2019t know about the emerging deal to end the Iran war<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mayer has been exceptional on defense to start his MLB career, but his opponents have exposed some offensive shortcomings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>One year into his big league career, the Red Sox\u2019 Marcelo Mayer remains a work in progress - 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