The Red Sox selected Marcelo Mayer with the fourth pick in the MLB Draft Sunday night, as he was available after Henry Davis, Jack Leiter, and Jackson Jobe were all surprisingly taken ahead of him.
“We had a set of players I think we really liked,” Red Sox director of amateur scouting Paul Toboni said. “But I think this outcome is one everybody is really excited about.”
While there wasn’t a ‘consensus number one pick,’ as Paul Toboni said, Mayer seemingly was the top prospect in the draft. But the first thing that jumped out to Toboni and the Red Sox wasn’t his elite defense, or his left-handed and all-around bat. Toboni says it was something you wouldn’t exactly expect.
“I think the first thing that jumped out to you about the kid, this sounds crazy, but how he interacts with people. Just walking into the park and how mature he is and what a leader he is,” Toboni said. “It just jumps out to you right from the get-go.”
The left-handed bat was drafted to the Red Sox on almost no mock drafts, with everyone expecting him to land in the top three. Mayer was ranked as the number one prospect on MLB.com, as the Eastlake High School product has virtually no flaws in his game.
“The second thing that jumps out to you is, once he starts playing catch and going through pregame, and eventually getting into the game, he has such a natural feel to play the game and natural instincts to play the game,” Toboni remarked.
With Mayer’s elite defense and all-around bat, Toboni says the USC commit makes the game look easy, and slows the game down like a good quarterback.
“The thing that really sticks out to me with Marcelo’s game is he just does everything at a pace that it looks like he’s doing it so so easy,” said Toboni. “You talk about quarterbacks throwing the game down, right? This kid slows the game down both at shortstop, and when he’s in the (batter’s) box. He’s always under control.”