Red Sox rookie Marcelo Mayer to undergo season-ending wrist surgery
Mayer, who showed flashes of upside during his first MLB season, will be out for the rest of 2025
By
Matt Snyder
•
1 min read
Red Sox rookie infielder Marcelo Mayer has been out since July 23 with a wrist injury and the hope was he would return at some point this season. Sunday, though, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters that isn't going to happen. Mayer will have surgery to repair the right wrist injury, Cora said, and will miss the rest of the 2025 season.
Mayer, 22, debuted on May 24 and hit .228/.272/.402 (85 OPS+) with eight doubles, a triple, four homers, 10 RBI, 20 runs and 0.2 WAR in 44 games this season. He mostly played third base while Alex Bregman was injured but also saw time at second and shortstop.
Like most highly touted rookies, Mayer struggled with consistency but also showed flashes of his upside. He hit .281 with a .404 slugging percentage in his last 19 games.
Mayer was ranked as the 10th-best prospect in baseball back in spring training by CBS Sports prospect guru R.J. Anderson, who said the following at the time:
Unavailability has become the theme of Mayer's professional career. He's still yet to play in 100 games in a season, having missed most of the second half of 2024 on account of a lumbar strain that prevented him from making his Triple-A debut. Mayer had a good year when he was hearty and hale, nearly matching Roman Anthony's OPS at Double-A. He's added strength (and swing and miss) since draft night, and he continues to be an effective shortstop with more quickness than straight-line speed. That makes for a good prospect, albeit one with a spotty health track record.
This means that, yes, Mayer has suffered another major injury and it's remaining a theme. Overall, though, call the 2025 season a success since Mayer debuted in the majors and had stretches of quality play.
It'll be interesting to see how things shake out with the Red Sox's young infielders next spring. Ceddanne Rafaela is playing second base now. Kristian Campbell and Mayer figure to need regular playing time at the big-league level to continue development, but veterans Trevor Story and Bregman hold down shortstop and third base, respectively. Bregman can opt out of his contract after this season, however.
