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‘Run-producing machine’ Marcelo Mayer on adjustments that have led to hot April
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- ‘Run-producing machine’ Marcelo Mayer on adjustments that have led to hot April
WORCESTER -- Anyone who has seen Marcelo Mayer play for the WooSox recently wouldn't be surprised by the announcement on Monday that he was named the International League Player of the Week for the week of April 21-27.
"I think he was the obvious choice," WooSox manager Chad Tracy said of his "run-producing machine", Mayer, who batted .460 with three home runs, 12 RBI, nine hits and amassed a 1.530 OPS last week, racking up 21 bases over six games. Mayer leads minor league baseball with 34 RBIs.
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For Mayer, there's not a lot to say about the honor. It's not the first time he's been a Player of the Week - he did it in the Carolina League with the Salem Red Sox in 2022 and the South Atlantic League with Greenville in 2023.
But the award is another tangible marker that Mayer is right where he needs to be to force the Red Sox to find a spot for him in the majors.
It wasn't the hottest start to the season for Mayer, as he hit just .193 through his first 14 games. But a minor adjustment led to big production for Mayer.
"I think the way that I was just coming into the zone with my bad angle, the way that I was holding [the bat] didn't allow me to stay through the zone as much as I wanted to, so I was kind of going out and around it and just coming across," Mayer said. "So I made a small adjustment with the way that I'm holding my bat right now, and it's been working ever since."
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His manager could see when things shifted for Mayer, too.
"By the middle of that series in Rochester through now, he's just been really good against righties and lefties too," Tracy said. "He looks very comfortable against left hand pitching. So he's getting out of his way right now."
Mud Hens 4, WooSox 2
Toledo struck early and the WooSox couldn't make up the ground as they fell in the first game of the series.
Robert Stock got the start for Worcester and was touched for four runs on five hits and three walks in four innings of work.
Nate Eaton got the WooSox on the board with a 445-foot home run, his third of the season.
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The bullpen was very solid, however, with Brendan Cellucci turning in a scoreless inning and a third and Wyatt Mills keeping the bases clean in his inning and two-thirds. Mills inherited two runners coming into the game and was a strike-throwing machine, with 15 of his 19 pitches landing in the zone. Isaiah Campbell tossed two scoreless innings to finish out the game.
Notes
- Connor Wong is making good progress on returning to the Red Sox, playing nine innings and getting five plate appearances. He legged out a double down the left field line in the ninth inning.
Wong got a foul ball off his hand during the fifth inning of Tuesday's game and the trainer briefly came out to check on him, but Wong stayed in for his at-bat in the bottom half of the inning.
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- While Mayer and Roman Anthony are learning everything they can on the field, the WooSox are giving them experience in the sort of off-the-field things they'll be asked to do.
On Tuesday, Mayer and Anthony fielded questions from a large group of WooSox front office members, as they shared some of what their experience in Worcester has been like, while also learning some of what goes on behind the scenes from WooSox employees.
As part of an initiative called the Worcester Baseball Committee, players, coaches and WooSox employees can connect to understand what each other does on a daily basis a little bit better.
Anthony and Mayer chatted with the large group in the DCU Center prior to Tuesday's game for a half an hour.
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"It's super fun. We really enjoyed it," Mayer said. "Anytime we can do stuff like that, we're always more than down to do it. We know how hard everybody works here, top to bottom. There's a lot of things that go unseen that make this place amazing, and we're really grateful for it."
What's Next
The WooSox shift back to night games on Wednesdays for the time being with game two of the series with the Mud Hens scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch.
Read the original article on MassLive .
