Red Sox’s ‘Big Three’ Prospects Not Yet Buying Into Own Hype

BOSTON — The Red Sox fully intend on having Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel lead them into the future. That much has become clear in recent months.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow views that “Big Three” as the next great core to call Fenway Park home, essentially saying as much since being hired to replace Chaim Bloom. He referred to the group as “the next wave” and seemingly made them all but untouchable in trade conversations. In fact, that might be why Boston didn’t obtain ready-made starting pitchers this offseason — not wanting to budge on its trio of highly rated prospects.

It’s quite the endorsement.

Mayer, Anthony and Teel want more, though. They understand it doesn’t mean anything unless they produce, which they’ll have an opportunity to do as they grow throughout the minors together.

“I love it. Roman, Teel, they’re great players and they love to play,” Mayer told NESN.com last month. “They play hard. We all hold each other accountable and I’m really excited to see what our team is going to look like this year. … It’s definitely exciting. It’s an honor to be talked about like that, but at the end of the day, we haven’t done anything. We’re here in a rookie development camp trying to get better, and in order for that to become a reality, we all know that we have to work extremely hard and work together and try to get better every single day.”

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It’s expected that Boston will keep Teel, Mayer and Anthony together for as long as it can, with the three starting the upcoming season in Double-A Portland together manning the middle of the Sea Dogs’ defense. That’s what they did last season, quickly building chemistry together.

“I would say coming here, (building chemistry) was a fairly quick process for me. Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, guys like that, on the field we work hard and get after it, but off the field we hang out and we’re good friends,” Teel said at Red Sox development camp. “The transition has been easy. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. I’d say it’s an honor to be mentioned in that conversation. It’s a testament to all of our hard work, and it goes back to controlling the controllable and focusing on the small details in our training.”

“I’m super close with both of those guys, but I don’t think it’s just those guys. I think all the guys in the room here have developed a great, close bond with each other,” Anthony added. “We all get dinners together, whether it’s during the year, spring training, whatever it is. I think that’s why this group is so close and tight-knit, and that just makes it so much more special and easier to come in every day, when you have guys like Kyle and guys like Marcelo.”

Mayer might be slightly ahead of the other top prospects, but the Red Sox have things lined up for Teel and Anthony to be closely behind him in their rise throughout the minors.

An if they have anything to say about it, you can expect to see this trio together for a long time.

“I think we know they are good players who have the potential to be great players,” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham told NESN. ” … We care and value them and want to continue to see them do really well.”