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One year ago today, the Red Sox were building around two consensus top ten prospects -- Anthony and Kristian Campbell -- and a third, Mayer, who was a consensus top-25 guy (and not far removed from being top-15). Today, Mayer has a 73 OPS+ and is being platooned with waiver bait. Anthony has a 99 OPS+ and a .325 SLG. Campbell is an outfielder -- not even a center fielder, as he’s played mostly in the corners -- with a .333 SLG at Triple-A.
I will again say that we’re 23 games into a 162-game season, with plenty of time to rally. Amid all these struggles by young players, Ceddanne Rafaela has taken some positive steps at 25, and Wilyer Abreu continues to be very good on both sides of the ball. The 2025-29 Red Sox, though, are supposed to be winning around the homegrown core that Chaim Bloom built across his four drafts, and right now, the best players in that core are providing almost nothing. There’s no path to a Sox championship that doesn’t involve Mayer and Anthony being stars.
