Red Sox Executive Shares ‘Good News’ On Marcelo Mayer’s Status

The Red Sox will have to wait a bit longer to see Marcelo Mayer in Triple-A action.

Mayer was promoted to Worcester earlier this month, but he was unable to hit the ground running with the WooSox due to a back issue. The injury is looking like it will be season-ending, as the Red Sox reportedly do not anticipate Mayer returning to game action this year.

Mayer's latest setback admittedly "concerned" Boston manager Alex Cora, as the 21-year-old had each of his last two seasons cut short due to injury. But as director of player development Brian Abraham explained on the latest episode of NESN's "310 To Left" podcast, the organization isn't sounding the alarms about Mayer's status.

"The original feeling for Marcelo was that it was day-to-day," Abraham told hosts Tom Caron and Alex Speier. "Little bit of a tweaked lower-back issue, felt like he'd be fine. I think balancing how he felt with the work that was accompanying that, we just got to a point where he really was plateauing with the improvement and needed to get a little more deeper into what was going on. Got an MRI and that's where we found out more formally about the lumbar strain.

"Certainly unfortunate for Marcelo, but the good news is we know what the issue is. We know why he was unable to get comfortable whether that be running the bases, more aggressive batting practice or fielding. He's in Fort Myers now. He'll continue to do treatment down there. We expect a full recovery. It's just going to take a little bit of time now with the end of the season. So, certainly frustrating for him and for us. But at the end of the day, we're happy we know what the issue is. We have a great group in Fort Myers to take care of him and I know he's really excited to work to get through this and be prepared for the offseason and next year."

While Mayer turns his focus to next season, his fellow top Red Sox prospects will try to end their 2024 campaigns on high notes. Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel and Kristian Campbell all have an opportunity to give the organization something to think about before the offseason rolls around.