Tag: 2025 season

Top Red Sox prospect Marcelo Mayer provides update on lower back injury that cut his 2024 season short

After missing the final two months of the 2024 season with a lumbar strain in his lower back, top Red Sox prospect Marcelo Mayer provided an update on his health in a recent conversation with MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam.

“I’m really good,” Mayer told McAdam. “Lower back’s great. I’ve been cleared for a while now, so I’ve been progressing swinging-wise, doing my stuff and working hard in the weight room, doing whatever I can to get my body in the best position for this upcoming season.”

As noted by McAdam, Mayer has not done much in terms of hitting so far this winter, though that will likely change soon.

“I’m still ramping up,” Mayer said. “But as far as that goes, my swing feels phenomenal right now. It feels like I haven’t missed a beat, which is weird because usually when I take a week off, I feel extremely rusty. But I took like two months off and I feel great right now. I’ll be ready to (be a full-go for the start of spring training).”

Mayer, the No. 10 prospect in Baseball America’s top 100 rankings, saw his season cut short by injury for a second straight year over the summer. The recently-turned 22-year-old was limited to 78 games between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland in 2023 due to a lingering left shoulder impingement that ultimately shut him down that August.

Mayer broke camp with Portland this past spring and was putting together a stellar season at the plate through late July. The left-handed hitter netted 2024 Eastern League Post-Season All-Star honors by batting .307/.370/.480 with 28 doubles, eight home runs, 38 RBIs, 60 runs scored, 13 stolen bases, 30 walks, and 66 strikeouts in 77 games (335 plate appearances) for the Sea Dogs.

On the other side of the ball, Mayer drew encouraging reviews for his defensive ability at shortstop, where he started 65 games and committed 10 errors in 212 chances with Portland this year. The 6-foot-3, 188-pound infielder also made exactly one start at third base for the second season in a row.

In the weeks following his second straight trip to the All-Star Futures Game, Mayer hit a snag. He was placed on Portland’s injured list on August 1, two days after leaving a game early with what was initially described as lower back and upper glute muscle soreness. Since the issue was deemed minor, the Red Sox proceeded to activate and then promote Mayer to Triple-A Worcester on August 12 with the expectation that he would quickly find his way into the lineup.

The soreness in Mayer’s back, however, persisted. Further medical evaluation, including an MRI, led to the diagnosis of a lumbar strain. Rather than act aggressively, the Red Sox ended Mayer’s season before he could even notch his first Triple-A at-bat by placing him on Worcester’s injured list on August 20 and sending him to extended spring training in Fort Myers, Fla. so he could focus on his rehab.

“Extremely frustrating. As a player, of course you don’t want to get injured,” said Mayer. “I work extremely hard while I play to try to prevent injury. I think I’ve just been unlucky these past couple of years. I don’t think it’s something that happened because I didn’t do that or didn’t do this. I fell (resulting in the shoulder injury), something I can’t control. And the other one, I just had a little back problem.

“It’s obviously not ideal, but that’s the situation I’ve been put in and all I can do now is work my ass off (to rehab),” he continued. “I went down to Florida (in the fall) for a month, worked with the trainers there, did workouts, did some core stuff. They sent me home and I continued that training, and I’m pretty much a full-go right now. I’ll start hitting around the new year, which is more than enough time for me. You don’t need to be hitting all off-season.”

Originally selected by Boston with the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Eastlake High School (Chula Vista, Calif.), Mayer — barring a trade or other surprise move — is expected to open the 2025 campaign at Worcester. If he can stay on the field and quell any concerns about his durability, he should be able to put himself in a position to make his major league debut before the season draws to a close.

(Picture of Marcelo Mayer: Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox sign former All-Star, Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer to two-year minor-league deal

The Red Sox signed free agent reliever Michael Fulmer to a minor-league contract last week, per the club’s MLB.com transactions log. According to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, it is a two-year deal that will cover the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

As noted by Cotillo, the contract includes a $1.5 million major-league salary in both years. If Fulmer is selected to the 40-man roster in 2024 or 2025, his salary will be $1.5 million. The right-hander will also have the chance to earn an additional $2 million in incentives next year.

Fulmer, who turns 31 next month, is expected to miss the entirety of the 2024 season after undergoing UCL revision surgery on his right elbow last October. This comes after he previously underwent Tommy John surgery to repair that same ligament in March 2019.

Last year with the Cubs, where he worked with Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Fulmer posted a 4.42 ERA and 4.15 FIP with 65 strikeouts to 28 walks over 58 appearances (one start) spanning 57 innings of work in which he held opposing hitters to a .235 batting average against. He ranked in the 95th percentile of all big-league pitchers in hard-hit rate (30.3 percent) and the 92nd percentile in both average exit velocity (86.4 mph) and whiff rate (33.5 percent), per Baseball Savant.

A former first-round draft selection of the Mets out of Deer Creek High School (Edmond, Okla.) in 2011, Fulmer first broke in with the Tigers in 2016 after being part of the same trade that sent former Red Sox outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to New York the previous summer. The Oklahoma native got his major-league career with Detroit off to a promising start, as he took home American League Rookie of the Year honors as well as a 10th-place finish in Cy Young voting in 2016 before being named a first-time All-Star in 2017.

From that point forward, though, Fulmer has been hindered by injuries on numerous occasions. After his 2019 was wiped out because of Tommy John, the righty struggled to a 8.78 ERA in 10 starts during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. He then moved to Detroit’s bullpen in 2021 and has primarily worked as a reliever for the Tigers, Twins, and Cubs since then.

Altogether, Fulmer owns a lifetime 3.94 ERA in 262 career big-league outings (94 starts). When operating in a relief role, the 6-foot-3, 224-pound hurler has pitched to a 3.43 ERA with 190 strikeouts to 70 walks across 175 2/3 total innings. He also converted 19 of a possible 30 save opportunities in that stretch.

Before going under the knife while with the Cubs last fall, Fulmer averaged 83.2 mph with his sweeper, 94.2 mph with his four-seam fastball, 89.6 mph with his cutter, 94.8 mph with his sinker, and 89.9 mph with his changeup. He has past experience throwing a curveball as well.

Fulmer will presumably spend most, if not all of the 2024 campaign rehabbing in Fort Myers. Barring a surprise, he should be at Boston’s spring training camp as a non-roster invitee around this time next year.

The Red Sox, for their part, are no strangers when it comes to rehabbing injured free agent pitchers. Most recently, right-hander Wyatt Mills was brought back on a similar two-year minors pact earlier in the offseason after undergoing Tommy John surgery last July.

Like Fulmer, Mills is unlikely to pitch in 2024, though there is always a possibility something could change later in the year. In the meantime, neither Fulmer nor Mills will count against the Sox’ 40-man roster.

(Picture of Michael Fulmer: Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)