System’s big three aren’t ducking championship aim
PORTLAND, Maine — “What’s a duck boat?”
Earlier this year, Red sox prospect Marcelo Mayer interrupted a conversation with assistant director of player development chris stasio and teammates Roman Anthony and kyle Teel for clarification. The group was discussing the documentary “four Days In October” and the remarkable experiences of championship teams in Boston.
But when stasio mentioned the rides on duck boats through the city, Mayer and Anthony were perplexed. (Teel, who’d been on a Duck Tour during a family trip to Boston as a child, was not.)
As the players heard from stasio about the parade of champions on amphibious vehicles, they became captivated.
“Every time when we see him, we’re like, ‘You ever been on a Duck Boat? Let’s go!’ ” said Mayer, who now has a duck boat as the wallpaper on his phone.
The prospects could have taken a Duck Tour during the Rookie Development Program in Boston in January. There also are duck boat tours in Portland, Maine.
But Mayer, Teel, and Anthony are resolute that they will not go on such a trip until they have earned one as World series winners with the Red sox. They regularly discuss their hopes of doing so.
“It became this ongoing joke that obviously isn’t much of a joke,” said Anthony. “We just pump each other up with it every day.”
“It’s freaking cool,” Teel said about taking a champion’s ride through the city. “That’s why we’re talking about it.”
In a way, of course, the whole line of conversation is preposterous. Anthony is still 19 — he turns 20 next week — and in his second full season of pro baseball. Teel, 21, is less than a year removed from being drafted out of the University of Virginia. Mayer, also 21, is in his third full pro season.
They’re all in Double A, with plenty of development in front of them before they’re even ready for the big leagues. nonetheless, it is telling that the top three prospects in the Red sox system are forging an identity built around team success.
“There’s expectations and there’s noise,” Anthony said. “As a group, when you go into it and just try to build off of each other each day and just try to go out there and win — and win where we are right now — it takes the pressure off. not that there is any to begin with, but it takes that outside noise away.
“It’s a lot easier to play when you’re going out there and the goal is just to win. I think that’s why we’ve won a lot lately. And it’s fun, it’s really fun, regardless of where you are, to be a part of a team that’s winning.”
Teams don’t always appreciate that notion in the minors. Often, winning is treated as an afterthought for players striving to reach the big leagues, and rightly so.
In 2013, the sox’ Low A full-season affiliate (then in Greenville) went 5187. Yet it was a hugely successful year, given that Mookie Betts had an offensive breakthrough that redirected his path from relative obscurity to stardom.
A case can be made that the foundation of the 2018 World series title was laid in no small part after Betts left Greenville, when he played — and won — with minor league teams that featured several future big league teammates.
Betts was part of a wave of prospects whose grouping elevated both individual and collective performances, playing for dominant teams in both High A and Double A. The success those young players experienced in the minors became a critical reference point.
Once in the big leagues, Betts, Travis shaw, Brian Johnson, Jackie Bradley
Jr., and others drew on shared experiences to reassure each other during times of struggle. Those dynamics contributed to a culture in which young, homegrown Red sox players pushed and pulled each other to a title.
The sox are hopeful that something similar might be at work in Portland, with results that could be felt for years to come.
“They want to win together. They want to do this together,” said stasio. “I think that’s real. They’re not focused on poking their head in the big leagues or being an All-star, accomplishing individual goals. Their goal is to win in Boston as a group and have a special experience with our group.”
Early in 2024, they’re doing that. Portland is 16-11, in first place in the Eastern League. Each win is celebrated with Teel — known to teammates as “DJ Base Monkey” — spinning decks.
Evaluators who have gone through Portland suggest the heralded trio is living up to its billing, even with offensive numbers that have been somewhat dampened by the typical arctic conditions at the start of a Portland season.
Mayer is hitting .276/.316/.448 with three homers, again hitting rockets. Teel, less than 50 games into his pro career, looks like a near-lock to be an everyday catcher based on his mature plate approach (.244/.361/.415) and defensive ability. Anthony has been crushing the ball, with results in May (.333/.467/.542) that have started to align with the quality of his at-bats.
“It’s a really [expletive] good team,” said a rival evaluator, noting that the talent base extends to include nick Yorke, Wikelman Gonzalez, Eddinson Paulino, and others.
Day to day, the work by the prospects is specific and purposeful, whether it’s on swing decisions, defense, or attention to game details. But underlying those efforts is a collective ambition, one that is admittedly audacious.
“The city of Boston wants championships more than anything. We want them just as bad, maybe even more,” said Mayer. “We talk about it every single day — trying to win championships in Boston, bring championships to the city, bring joy to the fans.
“We see it as a challenge. Obviously if you want to win World series, you’re going to have to deal with a lot of pressure. so in a way it’s good that we have it now, because it’s not going to go away.”