Red Sox No. 2 Prospect Makes Loud Statement About MLB Readiness As Fans Grow Restless

The Boston Red Sox are languishing at .500, and there's an argument to be made that they're not putting their best possible lineup on the field.

One of the biggest storylines coming into the season was the team's "big three" prospects--Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer. So far, only Campbell has progressed to the majors, while Anthony and Mayer have torn up Triple-A.

Anthony, an outfielder who celebrated his 21st birthday on Tuesday, is the consensus number-one prospect in baseball. But it's Mayer, the 22-year-old shortstop, who has stolen much of the thunder of late.

Mayer is racking up RBI like it's going out of style, with 38 so far through 35 games. And he picked up three in dramatic fashion with a go-ahead opposite-field home run in the ninth inning of the Worcester Red Sox's win against the Buffalo Bisons on Tuesday night.

It was a night of consternation among Red Sox fans, who saw their team lose a 10-9 heartbreaker to the Detroit Tigers. And many of those fans, including popular media personalities, took to social media to call for Mayer's promotion.

"Getting to that point where Marcelo Mayer should be seriously considered for a call-up. If you hit the beginning of June and the Red Sox are still hovering around .500 while getting no production from SS, I don’t know how you hold him down," posted Nat Gordon, the co-host of the "Play Tessie" podcast.

"I want Marcelo Mayer on my big league baseball team," wrote Jared Carrabis, host of the juggernaut "Section 10" podcast.

The elephant in the room is Trevor Story. The Red Sox paid the 32-year-old $140 million to be their shortstop three years ago, but he's struggling at the plate after three straight injury-plagued seasons. For Mayer to crack the Red Sox's starting lineup, either Story has to be moved to the bench or traded, or one of the two has to move off their primary position.

But when a youngster is turning heads the way Mayer is right now, it's more than reasonable for the fan base to grow restless.