Surely it’s just a matter of time now.
Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel, Boston’s anointed Big Three and the club’s most celebrated prospects, have done everything the Red Sox could have hoped for through the first half in Double-A. The trio has produced at the plate and in the field while demonstrating maturity beyond their years in the clubhouse, and now with the calendar turning to July it feels as if promotions to Triple-A could be imminent.
Mayer, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, has put last season’s injury-plagued campaign behind him and proven again why he’s been a consensus top 15 prospect for the past three years. The 21-year-old shortstop is currently batting .307 with seven home runs, 36 RBI, 13 stolen bases and an .851 OPS on the season, and in the month of June he took things up a notch by batting .333 while recording more walks (14) than strikeouts (12).
Anthony, who turned 20 in May and remains one of the youngest players in Double-A, hasn’t been overwhelmed by the higher level of competition. The outfielder is batting .245 with eight home runs, 15 doubles, 24 RBI and an .804 OPS; he found his power stroke in June, bashing five home runs in 18 games. In early June, SoxProspects unveiled their updated rankings with Anthony taking No. 1 from Mayer.
Teel, last year’s No. 14 overall pick, has arguably been the best of the bunch. The 22-year-old catcher is batting .303 with eight home runs, 14 doubles, 48 RBI and an .859 OPS on the season, and he followed his scorching May with a dominant June that saw him bat .314 with an .849 OPS.
In terms of surface-level production it’s hard to imagine what more Mayer, Anthony and Teel have to prove, but as director of player development Brian Abraham put it when posed the question earlier this spring, there is a lot that goes into promotions.
Farm report: Could Triple-A promotion be near for Marcelo Mayer, Boston’s No. 1 prospect?
The club needs to be sure they'll be able to get priority at-bats once they move up, which in Mayer and Teel's case is of particular importance given the glut of infielders and catchers currently jostling for playing time in Worcester. They're also still quite young, Anthony especially, so there's some merit in letting them cook in Double-A if there are certain areas the club still wants to see improvement.
That being said, the trio's importance to the future can't be overstated, so the Red Sox won't hesitate to shake things up if that's what it takes to get them playing time at Triple-A when the time comes. And if they keep playing the way they have, it's going to be hard for the Red Sox to justify keeping them in Portland much longer.
Triple-A: Lugo keeps rolling
Though he hasn't gotten the same amount of attention as the Big Three, Matthew Lugo is also enjoying a monster 2024 season and has already beaten them to Triple-A. The 23-year-old outfielder was promoted to Worcester on June 3 after dominating Double-A, batting .315 with 11 home runs, nine stolen bases and a 1.069 OPS in 43 games, and he's continued to produce since joining the WooSox.
Through his batting average is down at .239, Lugo has also blasted four home runs and maintained an .836 OPS, stolen five bases and tallied 14 RBI through his first 18 games with the WooSox. He's really started heating up again lately too, batting .400 with two home runs and eight RBI over his last five games.
Nick Yorke, Boston's first-round pick from 2020, was also promoted to Worcester only a couple days after Lugo and has performed exceptionally.
Through his first 20 games at Triple-A Yorke has batted .342 with two home runs, 10 RBI, 13 walks, a .929 OPS and five stolen bases. While still primarily a second baseman Yorke has also continued to get some action in left field, giving him some extra positional versatility in case his path to the majors is eventually blocked by Vaughn Grissom or David Hamilton.
Chase Meidroth, a 22-year-old infielder and one of the breakout stars of Boston's 2022 draft class last season, has been terrific all season and continued hitting at a high rate throughout June. Meidroth batted .366 with 20 walks against only eight strikeouts in the month and posted a .984 OPS. He's now batting .307 on the season with nearly twice as many walks (60) as strikeouts (34).
Richard Fitts, Boston's best pitching prospect who could conceivably debut in the majors this season, had a rocky June (5.19 ERA) but has generally been solid in Worcester, going 5-2 with a 4.11 ERA in 65.2 innings.
Double-A: Big Three or Big Four?
Anthony, Meyer, and Teel are considered Boston’s new Big Three, but Kristian Campbell is making a strong case to expand it to a quartet.
Over 22 June games, he hit .420/.515/.667 with 34 hits, six doubles, a triple, and four homers. He’s driven in 15 runs and scored 21, drawn 13 walks, and struck out 18 times. For the month, he led the roster in hits and runs, tied for first in doubles and triples, and ranked second in homers, RBI, walks, steals, average, OBP, and slugging.
Those were his first 22 games at the second-highest level of the farm, by the way. And it only took Campbell one week after his June 4 promotion to earn Eastern League Player of the Week honors for June 10-16. The second baseman/outfielder finished the month of June on a high note, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.
In the pitching department, an exciting month took a tragic turn. Luis Perales looked brilliant in his Double-A debut on June 2, striking out seven and allowing an unearned run on two hits over five innings. Then, he exited his second Sea Dogs start after just 2 ⅓. As the 21-year-old righty underwent testing, Alex Cora said the organization was optimistic. Unfortunately, Perales required a full UCL reconstruction (Tommy John), and had the surgery last week. This not only sidelines the 21-year-old for the remainder of the season, but likely all of 2025, as well.
It was also a difficult month for Wikelman Gonzalez, who pitched in four games (two starts); two were scoreless, the other two yielded 10 earned runs. Overall, he posted an 8.18 ERA across 11 innings, gave up 13 hits, walked eight, and struck out 14. Command continues to be an issue for the righty; he's avoided walks in only two of his 13 outings this season, issuing three or more free passes seven times.
On the bright side, Hunter Dobbins posted a 3.81 ERA over five June starts, and led the roster with 26 innings and 25 strikeouts. The righty, 24, is coming off one of his best performances of the year: six innings of one-run, four-hit ball against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Sunday.
High-A: Red-hot Coffey
Despite being drafted in the second-round and signing a $1.85 million bonus, Cutter Coffey has flown under the radar compared to his draft classmates Anthony and Mikey Romero. But last month the 20-year-old infielder went on the heater of all heaters, crushing seven home runs in a six-game span in which he also batted .458 with a preposterous 1.927 OPS.
Thanks largely to that stretch, Coffey is now batting .256 with 12 home runs and a .847 OPS in 44 games with Greenville. He finished the month with eight home runs, which was actually tied for best on the team in the month of June with recent call-up Jhostynxon Garcia.
Garcia, a 21-year-old outfielder, was promoted on May 30 and has made an immediate impact, batting .308 with nine home runs, 14 RBI and a 1.029 OPS over his first 24 games. Including his first two months in Low-A he now has 14 home runs and a .957 OPS on the season.
Romero, Boston's first-round pick in 2022, is finally getting regular playing time after the club slow-played his return from a back injury that derailed his first professional season last year. The 20-year-old's production isn't there yet (.212 in June) but he is playing just about every day after rarely taking the field back-to-back days following his activation in May.
Miguel Bleis, a five-tool prospect ranked as Boston's No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was promoted to Greenville on June 10 but has endured a rocky transition. Through his first 12 games Bleis has batted .140 with one extra-base hit and three RBI.
Greenville has had two pitchers stand out over the past month. Jedixson Paez went 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 21.1 innings since being promoted to High-A at the start of June, and Hayden Mullins went 1-1 with a 2.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 18 innings.
Low-A: Cespedes day-to-day
Yoeilin Cespedes, Boston's top international signing from the 2023 amateur class, was promoted to Low-A Salem last week and was meant to debut on June 25, but he was scratched from the lineup and hasn't played since.
According to a Red Sox source, Cespedes is dealing with left hand soreness and is day to day. He is expected to make his Salem debut later this week.
Boston's No. 7 prospect, Cespedes was tearing the cover off the ball in the Florida Complex League and earned a call-up after batting .319 with five home runs and a 1.015 OPS over 25 games. Once he debuts he'll join an intriguing Salem lineup that also includes last year's second and third round picks Nazzan Zanetello and Antonio Anderson, both of whom struggled in June but are still adjusting to professional ball after being drafted out of high school.
Rookie Ball: Watch out for Arias
Red Sox evaluators have been impressed by Franklin Arias, the club's No. 13 ranked prospect and a member of the club's 2023 international free agent class. The 18-year-old infielder boasts plus defense but has also stood out at the plate in the Florida Complex League, batting .291 with a .911 OPS and 16 stolen bases on the season. He was especially productive in June, batting .352 in 15 games over the month.
