FORT MYERS, Fla. ― All spring, the Red Sox have made clear that nothing will be handed to Marcelo Mayer.
On multiple occasions, manager Alex Cora has suggested Mayer is being offered a baton to win an Opening Day lineup spot but that it’s up to the 23-year-old to take it and run. On Sunday, Cora reiterated that Mayer isn’t guaranteed a spot in Cincinnati on March 26.
If such statements are meant to provide motivation, Mayer suggested the push is unnecessary. He is owed nothing and wants to win a role.
“This is the big leagues. Everybody is coming for everybody’s job,” he said. “I’m just grateful for this opportunity. There’s a lot of people that wish they were in my shoes and given an opportunity to compete for a big league spot in an organization like this. This is the Boston Red Sox. I don’t think anything should be given to anybody. I want to earn the chance to play for this team. I want to earn the right to face lefties. And I know that I’m going to show that.”
That sense of mission follows a winter of discontent.
Mayer achieved a milestone in 2025 by reaching the big leagues, but his rookie campaign — which ended after 44 games because of a right wrist injury that required surgery — left a disappointing residue.
Though he showed tremendous defensive ability at third base (a relatively new position when he was summoned from Triple A last May to fill in for the injured Alex Bregman) and subsequently at second, Mayer struggled offensively.
He hit .228/.272/.402 with a 30 percent strikeout rate. While offensive growing pains are common for a player debuting in the big leagues, the injury denied Mayer the chance to prove capable of adjusting to an elevated level of competition.
“I didn’t perform the way that I want to. I didn’t perform the way that I know I can,” he said. “Entering the offseason I was [ticked] because that’s the season I put out to the world. It was a long offseason, a lot of nights thinking about it.
“I have peace in my mind that I know I’m really good at baseball, but it [ticked] me off that I didn’t play that way. It’s not about there being doubt that I’m good or not, or that I know I can hang. I know myself. I know who I am as a player. And I know I’m really good when I step onto the field. It was just I didn’t play the way that I wanted to and I feel like the whole year when I got up there, I was tinkering my swing and [changing] little things, and I was never really comfortable. So that’s really the part that [ticks] me off. That shouldn’t happen.”
Mayer’s swing — cultivated from childhood through countless hours hitting with his father — has long been a thing of beauty, celebrated for simple, clean mechanics. It has undergone changes at times but has remained fundamentally sound enough that Mayer has rarely taken a paint-by-numbers approach in the box of thinking about the position of his back elbow or front leg.
For most of his professional career, dating to his selection by the Sox with the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, Mayer has been free to focus on attacking the opposing pitcher and pitch. Last year thus marked a departure.
“I was legit in the box thinking about everything but the baseball … You can’t really perform like that,” he said. “Every single week I was in the cage, my swing looked different. I was just tinkering with stuff that didn’t really need tinkering. I focused on the wrong things, which then led to me chasing, me doing all this stuff that really should have never happened.”
The Red Sox were less concerned about Mayer’s swing — he still featured elite bat speed while flashing the ability to hit the ball hard — than his swing decisions. He was a productive player when swinging at pitches in the strike zone, hitting .295 and slugging .516 with a 13 percent whiff rate — meaning an above league-average contact rate swinging at pitches in the zone.
But Mayer chased too often (a 30 percent rate, up from 24 percent in Triple A), and when he did, the results were disastrous. He hit .031 with a .064 slugging mark on pitches out of the zone with an alarming 71 percent whiff rate (in the 2nd percentile).
If Mayer can chase fewer pitches, he’ll force pitchers back into the zone — where he can do damage. He believes the combination of health and his offseason work to reestablish his swing mechanics will allow him to demonstrate that his 2025 performance in the big leagues was unrepresentative of his abilities.
Mindful of that dynamic, Mayer spent the offseason looking at video of when he felt best with his swing — he cited the beginning of the 2023 season in High-A Greenville (.290/.366/.524) and the start of 2024 in Double A Portland (.307/.370/.480) as times when he felt most comfortable — and worked to regain that form.
“I looked at film from when I liked my swing the best, when I didn’t think about it much, when my moves were easy, and we worked from there,” said Mayer. “I feel really good right now. This is about the best I’ve felt as far as my swing. Obviously, the timing comes with getting at-bats, seeing pitches, seeing pitch shapes as you go through spring training and see pitches. But as far as my move and my swing, and where my swing needs to be, it’s about as good as it’s been in a long time.”
The Sox remain bullish on his potential. As much as they would have loved to add Diamondbacks All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte this offseason, according to multiple sources, they balked at Arizona’s desire to headline a trade package with Mayer.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow declined to discuss trade conversations surrounding Mayer but said the team sees him as having “a really bright big league future.”
Mayer suggested the rumors had little bearing on how he saw himself or his place with the team.
“I try to stay away from trade rumors. It’s an honor to be talked about in a trade with Ketel Marte. He’s one of the best in the league,” said Mayer. “Obviously, I want to be here. I want to play here. So I’m happy that I didn’t get traded.”
Mayer’s first in-game impressions have been solid. He’s looked excellent in the field — particularly at second base — while appearing comfortable at the plate (2 for 10 with two walks and three strikeouts). He’s chased just 1 of 21 pitches that have been out of the strike zone.
He expressed a comfort in his swing that he rarely felt in 2025 — and optimistic for what his improvements might make possible in 2026.
“I aim really high. I don’t want to just be a regular MLB player. I know I’m more than capable of that. I know I have the tools, I know I have the skills to do so,” said Mayer. “I’m looking forward to showing the fans what I can do, show the team, the coaching staff, because I don’t even think they’ve seen what I’m capable of. So I’m excited.”
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.