Marcelo Mayer is doing all right for himself in the minor leagues.
So right, in fact, that he’s drawing comparisons worthy of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
As Mayer, the 19-year-old shortstop for the Salem Red Sox, continues to impress in High-A, the compliments are piling up. His manager even elicited the name of the gold standard in the all-around greats to play his position.
“He’s tall and long,” Salem manager Luke Montz told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “You can compare him to a Cal Ripken. He’s not a blazer, but his first step is big for him.”
In the long history of Major League Baseball, few players were as complete as Ripken, who collected multiple Most Valuable Player plaques, Silver Slugger awards and Gold Glove honors. Mayer, who stands 6-foot-3, has a similar stature and supposedly has both the offensive and defensive instincts to rival one of the all-time greats.
Speier’s full breakdown of Mayer is worth a read, as it suggests Mayer has maturity beyond his age both on the field and off. He doesn’t come across as a player who expects to play 2,632 consecutive games in the majors.
Instead, he sounds like someone just focused on the next game, whichever level it happens to be at.
