Marcelo Mayer

Mayer will be a big-league regular, but the closer he gets to the majors, the less he looks like a future fantasy star. As one of the slower shortstop prospects of note, Mayer won't be a major threat on the bases, so he has to move the needle at the plate. His walk rate has decreased at every full-season stop, dipping to 7.9 percent in 43 games at Double-A, and his 25.8 percent strikeout rate at Double-A was the worst mark of his career. Mayer reportedly dealt with a left shoulder impingement during his struggles at Double-A, and he eventually got shut down in early-August and received an injection in September. He has a career .280/.371/.494 slash line with 11 home runs in 60 games at High-A, so if the injury was the cause of his issues at Double-A, he could bounce back with similar production to what he showed at High-A in 2022 and 2023. A big reason Mayer ranks highly on real-life prospect rankings is his plus defense at shortstop, and while that figures to guarantee him playing time in the future, that's the extent of its importance for his fantasy value. He could debut late this year, but don't expect him to produce at an acceptable clip in fantasy until at least 2025. Read Past Outlooks