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Catcher Bo Naylor looked like a future major leaguer when I saw him playing for AA Akron a year ago.  The younger brother of Cleveland outfielder and 1st baseman Josh Naylor flashed power and contact while facing Binghamton.  With the release last week of the underachieving Mike Zunino, the Ontario, Canada native will get his chance to do it on the big stage -- and for a contending ballclub.

Below: It's back to the minors for Mets power hitting prospect Mark Vientos.  Recalled from AAA Syracuse when the offense began to sputter, he played just occasionally -- even after Pete Alonso landed on the Injured List.  The Connecticut-born, South Florida product then had the bad luck of Mark Canha and Tommy Pham's bats coming alive.  Hopefully, he'll regain his stroke as he again becomes a regular for the Mets top farm club.


While we're talking minor leaguers with big league promise, here's my first posting of Marcelo Mayer.  The Red Sox 1st round pick in 2021 (fourth overall) was recently promoted to AA Portland.  Though he's off to slow start in the Eastern League, he looked like a future big leaguer in last Tuesday's series opener against the Rumble Ponies.




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