Red Sox’s Alex Cora To Flip Switch, ‘Have Fun With’ Prospect Hype

The Red Sox aren’t going to hold back in their excitement.

Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell are here, and they’re competing for a spot in the Opening Day lineup.

“If you talk to the three of them, they have one goal,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters at spring training, as seen on NESN. “It’s to break camp with us, so we’ll see what happens.”

Boston has plenty of room for that trio, too. Mayer and Campbell are expected to compete for the opening at second base, with the former serving as a higher-floor option than the likes of David Hamilton and Vaughn Grissom. Campbell, on the other hand, has about as high of a ceiling as anyone in the system and could provide a spark from the right side of the plate.

Anthony is the top prospect in all of baseball, so even though left-handers Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu have two of the three outfield spots locked down, there’s a chance he finds his way onto the roster sooner rather than later.

“The Big Three” isn’t exactly new around town, as we’ve all heard about some iteration of that unit for the better part of three years. But they’re closer than ever to making a legitimate impact on the major league level. Cora used to temper expectations, but even he is willing to admit they’re close.

“I tried to let them know that what they’ve been doing that last couple of years — it works,” Cora said. “I’m not going to get in the middle that… I was against talking about the kids a few years ago. I got very mad when the first question (at spring training) was about Marcelo, but now, it doesn’t matter.

“I think we’re in a spot where — they’re here. I told them last year, ‘There’s no age limit to make the big leagues. You can make it at 20. You can make it at 32.'”

The Red Sox are leaving the door open, it’s just up to Anthony, Mayer and Campbell to actually prove they’re worthy of walking through.

“They’re good. They’re really good. We don’t have to hide it,” Cora said. “It’s cool about them that they’re humble, too. They’re humble kids, and they understand how it goes. They’re fun to be around… We’ll have fun with it.”