Red Sox Prospects Don’t Feel Pressured Despite Expectations

BOSTON — It’s hard to look at the Red Sox’s farm system and not think that pressure could be mounting, as expectations continue to increase for a group of prospects who have yet to call Fenway Park home.

The Red Sox have made it abundantly clear they’re looking for sustained success, which means focusing on developing talent. There are a number of prospects in the system, like Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel, who are progressing together, with the expectation that Boston will lean on them to be the catalyst of future success.

That is a lot to think about for guys who are fresh into their 20s, or so one would think.

“I wouldn’t say (we feel) pressure,” Mayer told reporters at Red Sox development camp in December. “We all love the game and we all love being around each other. We all want to win, every single person in this clubhouse wants to win. The Red Sox organization wants to win and that’s something that matters to the city. We’re aware of that and that’s our goal — to do everything we can every single day to hopefully make that dream come true.”

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Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow isn’t shying away from the fact that he expects Mayer, Anthony and Teel to become legitimate contributors. He believes the “blueprint” for success is developing stars internally while supplementing them with impact players through trades or free agency.

If the Red Sox are going to develop stars, it’ll come from that core group. It’s kind of like a challenge, which they plan on attacking head-on.

“It’s great. It’s an honor to be counted on, and it’s an honor to be mentioned,” Anthony said. “You always got to take that as a positive, obviously, but we’re not there yet. None of us have gotten there yet. We got a lot of work to do. We got a long ways to go before we’re there.

“I think I can speak for all the guys here when I say the end goal is the same. It’s to hold up that banner and win a World Series here in Boston. I think we’re all just working as hard as we can to get there and enjoy everything else along the way.”