BOSTON — A large majority of Red Sox fans here at Fenway Park stood for Marcelo Mayer‘s first major league at-bat Saturday.
Boston promoted the highly-ranked prospect in between Games 1 and 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader after placing third baseman Alex Bregman on the IL with a “significant” quad injury. The 22-year-old Mayer went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Mayer described the fans standing as “awesome.”
“I’ver never experienced anything like that in my life,” Mayer said after Boston’s 2-1 loss to the Orioles in Game 2. “I actually just got done texting my friends and parents about that moment. So it’s definitely something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Mayer — who Baseball America ranks No. 8 on its Top 100 list — again is starting at third base and batting sixth Sunday in the series finale against the Orioles.
“I think you just feel like a rush throughout your whole body,” Mayer said. “But at the same time, it’s kind of hard to take it in because you have to do a job. So I tried to as much as possible.”
Roman Anthony belts 116 mph homer
Red Sox top prospect Roman Anthony belted a 116 mph in the second game of Triple-A Worcester‘s doubleheader Saturday, after Mayer was called out.
One Red Sox player Sunday called Anthony “an animal.” Someone else smiled that it was “a statement” home run following Mayer’s call-up. The WooSox official X account tweeted a video of it and wrote “*nervous laughter*”.
Baseball America ranks Anthony the game’s No. 1 prospect.
It marked Anthony’s second homer in the minors with a 116 mph exit velocity. He also had one last year at Double-A Portland.
Only 12 balls in play have been hit 116 mph or harder in the major leagues this season.
Early continues to dominate
Red Sox left-handed prospect Connelly Early continued his dominance in Double-A Portland’s 4-1 win over Reading on Sunday. He struck out nine and allowed one hit and four walks over 5 scoreless innings.
The 23-year-old Early has struck out 47 of 113 batters he has faced for a 41.6% strikeout percentage.
