Red Sox Prospect Adds To Unexpected Opening Day Candidacy

The Boston Red Sox still have a decision to make as to who will be the starting second baseman on Opening Day in Texas.

Kristian Campbell, Vaughn Grissom and David Hamilton emerged as candidates, but overall production may have just opened the door to another potential fit, infield prospect Marcelo Mayer.

Now, there are a few reasons off the bat why that’s still unlikely: Mayer is a shortstop, he’s another left-handed bat and while he earned a call-up to Worcester last year, he’s yet to play in a Triple-A game.

With that said, he also put together an exceptional spring for the Red Sox. He homered in MLB’s “Spring Breakout” game and his RBI triple Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers brought him to a .367 batting average in camp with 10 RBIs.

Any potential for Mayer, who can move positions, to win the second base job only got a little more interesting because of Alex Cora’s assessment of the race Wednesday.

“Everybody has a shot,” Cora told reporters, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford.

The Red Sox have eight days to make the decision before Boston plays the Texas Rangers on March 27.