FORT MYERS, Fla. — Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer completed a recent rookie assignment flawlessly, buying 45-50 coffees for players and staff.
“They (called in) the order the night before,” manager Alex Cora said at JetBlue Park on Wednesday. “They called the place and they set it up. They were here at 5 in the morning delivering the coffee.”
The order included a latte with almond milk for Cora.
“Details like that, they go a long way,” Cora said. “And they get it. And most importantly, they’re very talented.”
Anthony, Mayer and Kristian Campbell, also known as The Big Three, headline a list of 27 Red Sox prospects who will participate in the Spring Breakout Game against the Rays on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. in Port Charlotte.
Anthony is ranked No. 2 on Baseball America’s Top 100 list. Campbell is No. 4 and Mayer is No. 15.
What has stood out about the 20-year-old Anthony during his first big league camp?
“Just the person,” Cora said. “He’s a good player. We know that. He’s physical. He controls the strikes. All that stuff we know. But just being around the guys— they all get it. They all do. It’s just talking baseball, watching the game, looking for information and being a good teammate.”
Cora said he hasn’t seen enough of Anthony in the outfield to offer much of an evaluation.
“But he can move,“ Cora said. ”He’s put in a lot of work with Huddy (outfield coordinator Kyle Hudson). He hasn’t had too many chances. But he’s a good athlete. I think we can actually play center or left. That’s where I see him. But obviously the offensive part of the game is the one that gets the attention.”
Anthony’s disciplined plate approach stands out. He has a 15.6% walk percentage in the minors. He had as many walks (31) as strikeouts as a 20-year-old playing his final 35 games of the 2024 season at Triple-A Worcester. He has a .398 on-base percentage in 245 minor league games.
“He’s not trying to impress anybody here. He’s just going through his approach,” Cora said. “And if it’s there, it’s there. If not, he takes it.”
Cora described Mayer as “an old school kind of shortstop.”
“He can move. He can play shortstop at the big league level,” Cora said. “He’s going to get stronger with time. But we’ve seen big shortstops, big guys play shortstop in the past. The swing is a good one. It’s a good one. Drives the ball to left center. There’s a few things that he knows that he needs to work on offensively.”
Mayer’s ground ball rate of 47.4% in 2024 was high. But he also was fourth in the Eastern League in doubles (28) despite playing in only 77 games because of a lumbar strain.
“The more you see him you get excited about it,” Cora said. “And just like the challenge of the big leagues is something that he’s taken (to) heart. And he shows up every day eager to get better. Just talk baseball with the boys and try to like fine tune the details of the game.”
Campbell played his third straight game at second base here Wednesday. He had been getting some reps in the outfield.
He’s still competing with Vaughn Grissom and David Hamilton to be the Opening Day starting second baseman.
“He’s going to start playing a lot of second base,” Cora said. “The more reps he gets there now, the better he’s going to be. And the at-bats are getting better. So we’ll keep pushing for that. Vaughn is going to start actually the next two … with Hammy playing short. … Don’t read too much into who’s here, who’s there, whatever. It’s just a matter of reps and we’ll make the decision when we have to.”
Red Sox prospects in Spring Breakout Game (including MassLive Top 25 rankings):
Pitchers (13): RHP Cooper Adams, LHP Brandon Clarke, RHP Hunter Dobbins (No. 9), LHP Connelly Early (No. 13), LHP Jojo Ingrassia, RHP Yordanny Monegro (No. 19), RHP Jedixson Paez (No. 18), RHP David Sandlin (No. 7), RHP Reidis Sena, RHP Adam Smith, LHP Payton Tolle (No. 8), RHP Juan Valera (No. 14), RHP Blake Wehunt
Catchers (3): Brooks Brannon, Ronald Rosario, Kleyver Salazar
Infielders (5): Franklin Arias (No. 4), Yoeilin Cespedes (No. 6), Blaze Jordan, Marcelo Mayer (No. 3), Mikey Romero (No. 22)
Outfielders (5): Roman Anthony (No. 1), Miguel Bleis (No. 11), Allan Castro (No. 17), Jhostynxon Garcia (No. 10), Nelly Taylor (No. 24)
Infielders/outfielders (1): Kristian Campbell (No. 2)
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