The Boston Red Sox have been one of MLB’s more disappointing teams thus far–and Marcelo Mayer hasn’t been exempt from the struggle bus.
Mayer is Having a Really Tough Season
Mayer, 23, still has plenty of time to figure things out at the MLB level.
The Red Sox promoted their young star in the 2025 season. During his introduction, although his play was better, it still didn’t match his prospect pedigree.
Mayer went from slashing .228/.272/.402 to an even worse .224/.281/.311. The alarming number, obviously, is his dip in slugging percentage.
Besides the lack of juice, Mayer can’t provide Boston with a sub-600 OPS. His predecessor at third base, Alex Bregman, has had a rocky start in the windy city with the Cubs. Although the All-Star and clubhouse leader in Beantown hasn’t settled in, he’s still much better than what Mayer is providing. I.e, Bregman has .3 WAR to Mayer’s 0.5.
One metric has stayed the course during Mayer’s offensive drought: bat speed. Modern MLB fans often hear analysts groggle over bat speed, and the simple reason why is that you can’t really teach it. A tick here or a tick there, but large jumps are a rarity. Even while he ranks in the bottom 10th percentile in xWOBA, xBA, and xSLG, Mayer remains a great athlete–there’s still hope for Boston.
Regardless of hope, however, the Red Sox fanbase is just about fed up with the product on the field–and that extends to Mayer.
MLB Reacts to Mayer and the Red Sox’s Poor Season
Here’s what people are saying:
Tom Caron: “Sox lose 4-3 and have lost 4 of 5 games. They are now 6-13 vs AL East opponents. They’re 1-35 when trailing by 2 runs at any point of a game, the worst such record in MLB. They are now a season-worst 11 games under .500, the worst mark since the end of the 2020 season.”
Tyler Milliken: “The Red Sox are 11 games under .500 for the first time since August 31st, 2020.”
Ian Browne: “For the first time this season, the Red Sox are 11 games under .500 at 27-38. They showed a hint of a comeback in the eighth, but fall to 1-32 when trailing after seven and 0-35 when trailing after eight. Rays win, 4-3. Sox will need to win tomorrow to make this a 2-3 road trip.”
@BOSSportsGordo: “Sucks to think about how much a healthy Triston Casas could have impacted this Red Sox team. They have the fewest homers in baseball. They have the 23rd best OPS from the DH position and only 4 homers (!!) from the spot. Ouch.”
Sox Savant: “I’m lowkey rooting for the White Sox to do well this year with all the former Red Sox players/prospects they have.”
Just Baseball Media: “The Red Sox are not considering firing Craig Breslow, per @timbhealey. Boston’s ownership hierarchy ‘has not even discussed making a change.’”
BallPark Buzz: “The amount of reports that have come out about Craig Breslow and the front office is alarming. I know FSG says they have no plans on firing Breslow but this many reports feels like it will eventually lead to Breslow being fired.”
MLB Reacts as Red Sox Infielder Marcelo Mayer Continues Difficult Season