New hidden ball trick? Catcher can't find it anywhere

April 26th, 2023

Red Sox top prospect Marcelo Mayer displayed his 60-grade hit tool on Tuesday when he ripped a single to right field against High-A Hudson Valley.

Driving in two runs on the play and ending up on third took a bit of luck and accidental trickery.

Mayer's hard-hit grounder made it through the right side, and right fielder Grant Richardson's throw home might have caught Eddinson Paulino -- if catcher Antonio Gomez had caught it.

But Gomez could not come up with the ball, which bounced mere feet away from him and sat directly on top of the foul line. With the white ball blending into the white chalk, Gomez could not find it and exasperatedly looked around for a full 10 seconds as the pitcher and first baseman frantically pointed at the hidden ball before the first baseman came up the line to grab it.

Amidst the chaos, Chase Meidroth was able to score all the way from first, and Mayer made it to third on a 1B-E2.

Hats off to the Greenville Drive's daring baserunning, which allowed an extra run to score, even if it wasn't enough in the 11-6 loss to the Renegades.

Mayer would go on to score on a Blaze Jordan homer two batters later. And although he was only credited with one RBI on the first-inning single, he officially knocked in his second runner two frames later on a double to left, which gave him a fourth multi-hit game through 13 outings this season.

The No. 9 overall prospect and second-ranked shortstop prospect upped his line to .297/.377/.423 despite being 2.4 years younger than the average player in High-A.