Dom Amore’s Sunday Read: Trio of prospects offer Red Sox reason to hope; NBA in Hartford and more
The Red Sox "big three" prospects, Kyle Teel, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer, are passing through Hartford this week, but are on the fast track for Fenway Park ... An NBA expansion franchise for Hartford/Springfield? It's one man's dream. ... Transfer portal madness continues, and more for your Sunday Read
It has only been five years since the Red Sox were defending World Series champs, only 2 1/2 since they were as deep into October as the ALCS.
However, the cursed Mookie Betts trade, the back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the unforgiving AL East and front-office turnover have made it seem like an endless rebuilding cycle for a franchise that emerged from the 86-year championship drought to forge a generation of success, four titles between 2004 and 2018.
There are players generating hope, and something of a blueprint in the farm system Chaim Bloom left behind when he was replaced at the head of baseball operations by Yale’s Craig Breslow last winter. Three of those players, catcher Kyle Teel, center fielder Roman Anthony and shortstop Marcelo Mayer, came through Hartford this week with the Red Sox Double A affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs. They all joined Portland for the tail end of last season, and as a package deal have hit the Eastern League running, making the first-place Sea Dogs the most talked-about Red Sox affiliate in 2024.
“The chemistry is real, we’re always together,” said Anthony, hitting .250 with two homers in the early going. “It’s pretty exciting on the field, but for us, we’re just a bunch of best friends playing baseball. We’ve trying to stay where our feet our at, and that’s Double A right now.
“We’ve talked about it as a group, ‘Let’s make it a goal to win at Portland now, win here together,’ so that as we go up together and get there, winning isn’t new for us.”
Mayer (No. 14), Anthony (21) and Teel (37) are among the top 40 in MLB pipeline’s current list of top prospects.
Anthony, at 20, is 3.7 years younger than the average player in the Eastern League, but is holding his own. A second-round pick in 2022 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., has moved quickly through the system, promoted twice to finish last season in Portland. Going into Friday’s games, he was hitting .274 with 16 homers and 20 steals in 141 minor-league games.
Teel, 22, a first-round pick from the University of Virginia in 2023, has moved up quickly, too, debuting in Double A the year he was drafted. He had two homers and six RBI in Portland’s first 12 games.
“Pitchers really pitch you tough in Double A,” Teel said. “On defense, there are more really good infielders, you’re not getting as many ground ball hits here. You’ve got to pitch the batters tough, too, when you call pitches. So you’ve got to really hone in on your preparation, pregame.”
Mayer, 21, a first-round pick from Eastlake High in California in 2021, has the most experience, 209 minor-league games with a .265 average, 31 homers and 132 RBI, is hitting .318 with two homers and eight RBI for the Sea Dogs.
“For me the biggest thing is staying in my zone, getting good pitches to hit,” Mayer said.
The Red Sox’s Opening Day roster had an average age of 28.9 years, about middle-of-the-pack in MLB. Rafael Devers, the most prominent veteran of the 2018 championship team, is still only 27, is signed through 2033.
“We all get along super well,” Mayer said. “We kind of see it like a travel ball team, we all get along so well and feed off each other’s energy.”
Here are their thoughts on one another:
Mayer: “Kyle, he’s a gamer. He competes. He’s a really good hitter, hits the ball hard to all fields, has great plate discipline. Behind the plate, he’s just super athletic, you’ve seen him make sidearm throws to second base. Roman, his oppo(site field) power is ridiculous. He’s so strong, you almost forget the kid’s (20). To have the plate discipline he has in Double A, it’s really special.”
Anthony: “Same story with a lot of guys who are very good, it’s consistency every day. (Teel and Mayer) are consistent with their work, show up every day and they’re the same guys whether they’re 0-for-4 or 4-for-4, they don’t get up and down. Consistent in he way they play the game and carry themselves, and that’s why they make the game look pretty easy, they slow everything down.”
Teel: “Last year, when I was in High A with Roman, he was younger than me and he was still showing me around, showing me how things were done there. We got really close, and I met Marcelo at the complex a few months ago, he’s really close with Roman and we just bonded together, did the Winter Weekend (in Springfield) together. It’s been really cool. Playing with those guys makes it fun, we have fun out here. Having fun out there and winning ballgames, that’s what it’s all about.”
The Red Sox are heavily invested here, signing Mayer to a $6.64 million bonus, Anthony for $2.5 million and Teel for $4 million, and the idea is to bring this threesome up through the minors together. This week, all three even got the same night off against the Yard Goats. The way prospects like this move through the streamlined minor-league structure nowadays, they could be together at Fenway even before this season is over.
More for your Sunday Read:
Gil Santos (pbp) & Bob Cousy (analyst), 10/17/86 #Celtics #LarryBird #NBA
Hartford Civic Center
h/t: @bostonradio pic.twitter.com/Gywbh4DQ6i
— Announcer Schedules (@announcerskeds) February 7, 2023
Meet your New England Founders
The NHL is not looking back toward Hartford, at least not right now with the Coyotes heading to Utah. But, since this is the basketball capital of the world, maybe you’ve heard, and a stone’s throw from the game’s peach-basket birthplace, how about an NBA franchise?
Meet the New England Founders.
We kid you not, nor do we raise false hopes. But the most improbable happenings start with the wildest dreams, and that’s where a man named Clarence Blair, 44, a Springfield native, founder of B.L.A.I.R. Creative Marketing comes in. “I’m working on an initiative to get the conversation going for (Hartford and Springfield) to merge as one entity in an effort to host an NBA expansion franchise in the region,” Blair said.
The NBA is considering expansion in a year or two, when it has a new TV deal. Cities like Seattle and Las Vegas will likely be at the top of its list. Blair, who has researched the demographics in various markets, has the idea is to play most of the games in Hartford, with a select few in the smaller Springfield space to pay homage to basketball’s roots. Before anything like this can be conceived, the XL Center will have to be reimagined, or replaced, by a top-of-the-line arena, which we keep hearing is on the drawing board. Now I would add this: How about a WNBA franchise in Boston, with the Connecticut franchise sharing this new arena?
Blair has a website, a logo and social media presence for The Founders. He made a presentation to the Springfield city council on Feb. 11 and a colleague made one to the council in Hartford on March 12.
“I’m implementing a creative ad campaign where I’ll create high-quality creative visual content,” Blair said. “I’ll utilize paid ads to increase awareness and attract an audience. I’m seeing it come together piece by piece. As it’s just me at the moment, it’s slow, but the ideation is there, so gaining momentum and crossing fingers that things align. I’m confident we have something.”
It would take years of determination and hundreds of millions of dollars to overcome the mountainous obstacles between here and there, but what the heck? What’s the harm in thinking, dreaming big? I’m not about to dump a bucket of ice water marked “never” on this one.
Marcelo Mayer is a triple shy of the cycle … It's the FOURTH inning
@PortlandSeaDogs | @RedSox pic.twitter.com/P1vjto3bIe
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 25, 2024
Sunday short takes
*After a tough start against a brutal schedule, the UConn baseball team is rolling, rising to first place in the Big East and into the 30s in RPI, so another NCAA Regional appearance is in play.
*Former Huskies catcher Matt Donlan, from Guilford, is also on Portland’s roster, backing up Teel. He DHed a game at Dunkin’ Park this week. On April 16, he was pressed into service as a pitcher and threw a scoreless inning vs. New Hampshire.
Dom Amore: John Sterling signs off as voice of the Yankees … as only he can
*Zach Zaback of Farmington, assistant men’s golf coach at UConn, and Connor Goode of Glastonbury, a Huskies sophomore, both shot 70 to advance out of the U.S. Open local qualifying at TPC River Highlands this week in Cromwell. Final qualifying will be May 20 and June 3 at various sites.
*That silly scene at Yankee Stadium Monday, where Aaron Boone was ejected by umpire Hunter Wendelstedt when it appeared a fan behind the dugout did the heckling, reminded me of a story Leo Durocher told in his memoirs, “Nice Guys Finish Last.” When Durocher was with the Dodgers in the early 1960s, his good friend Frank Sinatra sat behind the dugout and had perfected an imitation of “Leo the Lip” In Durocher’s voice, Sinatra rode the umpire until Leo was ejected.
newest face in DC sports with today's first pitch!
@WashMystics x @AaliyahEdwards_
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 25, 2024
*UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards, on the day she arrived in Washington to start camp with the WNBA Mystics, threw out the first pitch at a Nationals game. Hearing a Maryland native, Cam Spencer, will do the honors at Camden Yards soon, as Jordan Hawkins did last season.
*The UConn men’s coaches wanted to be surgical in their recruiting, not cast a wide net but avoid players they don’t believe are really interested and get the players they target. So landing Tarris Reed and Liam McNeely immediately after their visits is right on brand.
Last word
*Windsor’s Primo Spears, who has played for Duquesne, Georgetown and Florida State, is in the men’s basketball transfer portal a third time. Simsbury’s Gavin Griffith’s, who left Rutgers, landed at Nebraska. New Haven’s Desmond Claude, who led Xavier in scoring (16.6 per game) and most offensive categories, including shots, is also in the portal. … This is all madness in search of a method.