Boston Red Sox prospects are the talk of spring training this year.
Much of the attention is being paid to Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer to see if any member of that trio will break camp this month with the Red Sox.
But there’s another prospect, one that has been surpassed by Boston’s “Big Three” in recent seasons, that has started to grab the attention of Red Sox manager Alex Cora.
“Mikey Romero,” Cora told reporters, per The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham. “He’s a good player; a really good player. Just a baseball player — good at-bats; good defender. We’ve just got to get him healthy. He did everything this offseason to put himself in good shape. He’s a lot stronger now.
“This is the first time I’ve had a look consistently. I like him as a player.”
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The Red Sox drafted Romero in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Orange Lutheran High School. He was quickly viewed as a top infield prospect in Boston’s farm system, ranking as high as fifth in MLB Pipeline’s Red Sox prospect list in 2023.
But injuries derailed Romero’s development, most notably a stress fracture in his back. He has played in just 131 games in the minors since joining the Red Sox organization.
Romero is still just 21 years old, though, and flashed his potential once healthy with High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland last season. He even had a power surge with Portland in which he fit five home runs in 10 games.
Romero displayed his left-handed swing this past week in a Grapefruit League game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Romero went 2-for-3 with a solo home run to left-center field and smashed a double as well.
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It’s likely that Romero, who is now ranked as the 11th-best Red Sox prospect, will begin the season back with Portland. But just like Boston’s other top-tier prospects, Romero has his sights set on making it to the big leagues sooner rather than later.
“Two steps (from the majors) is not that far,” Romero told reporters, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “There’s a lot of guys that get called up from Double-A. I’m not necessarily saying that’s what is going to happen for me, but you’re super close. You’re really close. That’s how I feel. I feel like I’m close, and I’m excited to keep my head down and work this year.”
