'Seeing Fenway Park makes it super motivating': Top Red Sox prospects gather in Boston

BOSTON — Some of the top prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization were at Fenway Park Wednesday afternoon.

Infielders Vaughn Grissom, Marcelo Mayer, Chase Meidroth and Nick Yorke; outfielder Roman Anthony; catchers Nathan Hickey and Kyle Teel; and right-handed pitchers Isaiah Campbell, Richard Fitts, Wikelman Gonzalez, Luis Perales and Justin Slaten participated in the club’s Rookie Development Program that is designed to focus on the assimilation into major league life on and off the field.

For over an hour, 12 of Boston’s up-and-coming prospects met with media members inside the Red Sox clubhouse.

“All the guys in here, we’re all super close,” Anthony, 19, said. “We all want to win, and we all have the same end goal, but it’s awesome being in Boston itself, being here makes it feel that much more real and seeing Fenway Park makes it super motivating.”

A day before the club’s Rookie Development Program media availability, Anthony, Mayer and Yorke took in the scene of flurries at Fenway Park. For California natives like Mayer and Yorke, it was their first time seeing snowfall.

Welcome to Boston.

“Just the walk back from here to the hotel, I almost slipped four or five times because I’ve never had to deal with ice on the sidewalk before,” Yorke, 21, said. “So it’s super new to me.”

“I woke up in the morning, and I looked out my window, as I usually do, and I saw snow everywhere and was like ‘This is crazy,’ ” Mayer, 21, said. “It was awesome, I was making snowballs, all that little kid stuff, enjoying the snow, but yeah it was cool.”

In the latest Top 100 prospect list released by Baseball America, Mayer (No. 14), Anthony (No. 21) and Teel (No. 62) come in as the highest-ranked names for the Red Sox.

The three prospects recently were mentioned by new Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow in an interview with Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe about the state of the organization.

“The reality is that it’s going to require a step forward from the young position players. It’s going to require the build-out of a talent pipeline of arms that we can acquire, we draft, and we can develop internally,” Breslow told the Globe. “And it’s going to require aggressive player development in the minor leagues and the major leagues so guys that we think are the next wave — Mayer and Anthony and Teel, that group — are not just big leaguers but impact big leaguers.”

Last year, the left-handed hitting Mayer batted .236 with 43 runs, 19 doubles, 13 home runs, 54 RBIs and 32 walks in 78 games between High-A Greenville (35 games) and Double-A Portland (43 games), making 70 starts at shortstop and one at third base.

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Mayer was selected to play in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle before his season ended in August due to a left shoulder injury. But the former No. 4 overall pick from the 2021 draft is optimistic heading into the 2024 season.

“I feel great,” Mayer said. “My shoulder is in a good spot, I’ve been swinging it, so there’s no pain there right now. Just excited to start the year healthy and get going.”

Ranked the No. 2 prospect in the Red Sox organization by Baseball America and MLB.com, Anthony was named the 2023 Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of the Year after the left-handed hitter batted .278 with 27 doubles, 4 triples, 14 home runs and an .869 OPS with Class-A Salem, High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland.

The second-round selection from the 2022 draft made 68 starts in center field, 18 in right field, 1 in left field and 19 as the designated hitter.

“Now that I kind of have an idea of what I’m getting into going into the year, (I) thought I got a little taste of everywhere that I was at (last year), I think that helped a lot,” Anthony said. “But the goal remains the same just to get better every day and be where my feet are at each day and try to learn as much as I can.”

A first-round (No. 14 overall) selection in the 2023 draft, Teel quickly rose through the ranks of the Red Sox organization last year. The left-handed-hitting catcher out of the University of Virginia batted .363 with a .977 OPS across 26 minor league games, with the Florida Complex Red Sox (3 games), High-A Greenville (14 games) and Double-A Portland (9 games).

“Last year was all about soaking everything in and just enjoying where I was at,” Teel, 21, said. “It was really cool to just move up quickly like I did, and I feel like when I got to the complex in Florida, the coaches really helped me develop, and that’s a big reason I’d say I moved up so quick.”

That trio, along with the nine other prospects from the organization, met with Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens on Tuesday prior to sharing the Sox clubhouse with Red Sox manager Alex Cora and first baseman Triston Casas on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the 12 prospects head to TD Garden for a Boston Bruins game before traveling to Springfield for Winter Weekend.

“Just a day in the life,” Teel said.

With spring training less than a month away, the Red Sox will need some of their top prospects to continue to make strides in their development if the organization wants to avoid another last-place finish in the AL East.

Part of the progress, beyond the rookie development program this week, may include a stop at Polar Park this summer for a stint with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.

“It’s an awesome opportunity that hopefully this season I get to have,” Mayer said. “I hear a lot of good things about Worcester, I hear they draw a great crowd, it’s a great stadium, a great facility, so I’m definitely excited to be there.”

—Contact Tommy Cassell at tcassell@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tommycassell44. 

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Red Sox host top prospects at Fenway Park for Development Program