Red Sox announce participants for next month’s Rookie Development camp
The Boston Red Sox announced that nearly a dozen of the organization’s best prospects will take part in the team’s annual Rookie Development Program.
Top prospects Marcelo Mayer, Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony will take part in next month’s camp. In addition, Chase Meidroth, Nick Yorke, Nathan Hickey, Isaiah Campbell, Richard Fitts, Wikelman Gonzalez, Luis Perales and Justin Slaten will be involved.
Mayer, Teel and Anthony are the organization’s top premier prospects and could all make their major league debut’s in 2024, with 2025 being the latest.
Mayer is rehabbing from a shoulder injury and is expected to be ready for spring training. The top prospect hasn’t played about Double-A and unless he really impresses this spring is slated for Double-A Portland in 2024.
“He does a lot of things really, really well and is professional and as a person,” said former Red Sox infield coordinator Darren Fenster to Beyond the Monster this season. “You combine all this stuff, the talent that he has, it is kind of self-explanatory to see what position he will put himself as a player in our system with a very bright future.”
Three of the participants were all acquired the offseason in Campbell, Fitts and Slaten. Boston traded for Campbell from the Mariners for infielder Luis Urías.
The 26-year-old reliever made his his major league debut with the Mariners this past season. He posted a 2.83 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in 27 outings over 28 2/3 frames. During his time in the bigs, the righty held opponents to just a .210 batting average against him, he also held them to 6.9 hits per nine innings, per Baseball Reference.
Fitts was part of the four-player trade that sent Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old was named 2023 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, going 11-5 with a 3.48 ERA (59 ER/152.2 IP) and 163 strikeouts in 27 starts for the Somerset Patriots.
Fitts earned 2023 Eastern League Post-Season All-Star honors and was named a 2023 Double-A All-Star by Baseball America, ranking second among Yankees farmhands in wins and third in strikeouts.
Slaten was acquired from Mets, following his selection in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft. He will be subject to the traditional Rule 5 rules next season.
“We’re really excited about bringing him on board,” Breslow said to reporters about Slaten after acquiring him from the Mets. “It was the marriage of the data, the raw pitch characteristics, the performance, the scouting group, everyone aligned. And with this budding pitching infrastructure, we were able to get additional perspectives. When there’s alignment across all of those groups, it makes for a fairly easy decision.
“He’s a guy with huge swing-and-miss stuff and profiles as a back of the back of the bullpen-type arm. So we’re really excited to get him here and see what he can do.”
The invited players will workout at an indoor facility at Boston College, receive time with the media and take part in community service within the Boston area.
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