Worcester, Meet the Big Three

One call away from the big leagues

Roman Anthony walks back to the dugout after winning the inaugural MLB Futures Skills Showcase. Photo credit: MLB.com

In a second half filled with pitching woes and standings watching, the Boston Red Sox are looking for something to cling onto as they try to avoid missing the postseason for the third time in as many years. Although they will likely not help the club’s playoff push this fall, the recently promoted trio of Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony (pictured), and Kyle Teel will play a major part in the Red Sox future. How did these three minor leaguers get to the point of forming what many call a “Big Three” before debuting in the big leagues?

Since setting a franchise record 108 regular season wins along with a World Series victory in 2018, the Red Sox have struggled to find an identity amongst their fans and in the industry as a whole. Over the last calendar year, management has made it apparent that the organization’s farm system that has been budding over the last few years is a major selling point of the team. After selecting Marcelo Mayer 4th overall in the 2021 First-Year Draft, Roman Anthony 79th overall in 2022, and Kyle Teel 14th overall in 2023, the organization clearly found their selling point after all three players had played at Double-A Portland at the same time, giving all three highly touted prospects their first taste of baseball in New England.

Kyle Teel, Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Nick Yorke at 2024 Winter Weekend at MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA. Photo credit: Ken McGagh / The Boston Globe

When four of the Red Sox’ top prospects were brought out for an hour-long informal press conference at this past January’s Winter Weekend event, it was clear what direction the team wanted to go in terms of marketing to their fans, effectively promising that the talent in the minor leagues will solve what has gone wrong at the big league level in due time. Since then, the farm system has performed well, and has seen breakouts from more unheralded players.

Since becoming the Red Sox first top 5 selection of the First-Year Player Draft since 1967, infielder Marcelo Mayer has been at the forefront of the Boston Red Sox’ attempt to retool their farm system. After getting through the lower levels of the minor leagues with relative ease, the native Californian’s production seem to hit a wall after being promoted to Double-A Portland last summer. After slashing .189/.254/.355 in 43 games in the Eastern League, Mayer revealed he had been playing through an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. After rehabbing all of this past offseason, he has slugged 8 home runs and 28 doubles to go with a .307 batting average in 77 games with Portland, along with a <20% strikeout rate. Although the Red Sox have been careful with exposing Mayer to a level he may be overmatched at, it is certain the infielder will compete for an Opening Day roster spot next spring.

Perhaps the player with the highest major league ceiling of the “Big Three,” Roman Anthony boasts a unique toolset that will play in a big league outfield sooner rather than later. Made virtually untouchable this past trade deadline, Anthony has followed his meteoric rise in 2023 with a solid season in Portland, a level where he was 3.5 years younger than the average hitter, and younger than every pitcher he has faced this season. After showing potential platoon concerns in his brief low-minors stint, Anthony has slashed .302/.405/.460 in 74 plate appearances with 4 doubles and a pair of home runs versus Eastern League left-handers this year. Although he was selected in the compensatory section of the second round in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft, Boston paid the left-handed hitting outfielder like a first rounder, giving him $2.5 million to steer him away from his Ole Miss commitment. Although the Red Sox’ outfield at the major league level has produced at a high level this season, mixing their controllable outfielders with Anthony will create a “good problem,” as the club will have a plethora of options to build on moving forward.

An underrated aspect of the Red Sox’ trio of highly-touted prospects is that all three currently play premium positions. Catching prospects may be very difficult to evaluate, but Kyle Teel has intangibles not possessed by many in professional baseball. Primarily praised for his defensive ability behind the plate, the left-handed hitting Teel only needed 17 minor league games to reach Double-A Portland, a leap that he was certainly prepared for from competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the time of Teel’s reported promotion, the Worcester Red Sox sit at 5 total catchers on their active roster, something to keep note of while the UVA product is one call away from the big leagues.

Receiving promotions as part of a chain started by the aforementioned trio are 21-year old Rule 5 eligible outfielders Jhostynxon Garcia and Allan Castro, both heading from Greenville to Portland. After slugging over .500 at pitcher-friendly Salem Memorial Park, Garcia hit 16 home runs in 53 games for Greenville. Signed for $350,000 in 2019 out of Venezuela, he is the older brother of Johanfran Garcia, a catcher in the Red Sox’ farm system. Also moving up to Portland is switch-hitting outfielder Allan Castro, a 2019 international free agent signing out of the Dominican Republic for $100,000. After putting himself on the radar in 2023 with 31 doubles across Low-A and High-A, the Greenville Drive’s 2024 Opening Day center fielder has hit 14 home runs in 94 games for the Drive while posting a .740 OPS as a right-handed batter and an .840 OPS as a left-handed batter.