Mayer clubs first deep drive of '23 with Greenville

Boston’s shortstop of the future, Marcelo Mayer, has left the yard for the first time this season.

Rocking the special Greenville Black Spinners alternate jerseys on Jackie Robinson Day, the No. 7 prospect in baseball -- and Red Sox No. 1 -- per MLB Pipeline collected his first long ball of 2023 just six games into the campaign.

"It feels great," Mayer said. "To get the first one out of the way is always huge, I was finally able to be on time for one and put a good swing on it."

Despite a slow start to 2023, Mayer has shown his power potential with two of his five hits so far having gone for extra bases. One of those hits was an Opening Day triple, and now the other is the two-run laser to right field off Asheville pitcher Alex Santos in the bottom of the third inning of the Drive's 8-5 extra-inning loss.

The homer gave High-A Greenville a 3-2 lead. Mayer then followed it up with a line-drive single into right field scoring Gilberto Jimenez to help reclaim the lead, 4-3, in the seventh.

Mayer finished the game 3-for-5 with four RBIs after another RBI single in the 10th inning. He accounted for four of the Drive's five runs.

He credits the big night to just getting his timing right, after being late in the first couple games.

"I just made sure today that I got my foot down early, started a little earlier and got a good pitch to hit and I was able to do that today," Mayer said.

Mayer’s 60-grade hit tool has led to some hype for the 20-year-old, and he added to that with his 2022 performance. Mayer slashed .280/.399/.489 over 91 games between Single-A Salem and Greenville. The fourth overall pick from the 2021 Draft swatted 13 jacks last season, and once his 6-foot-3 frame fills out, it seems to be a matter of time before he makes a push for Boston.