Welcome to year four of the Monday Morning Brushback, friends! Each Monday morning, I’ll be posting an article here with three of my biggest takeaways from the week that was in Red Sox baseball while having some fun along the way. It’s a pleasure to be starting up another season of this.
As for the business at hand: Another year, another slow start out of the gates for the Red Sox.
It feels like you can set your watch to it at this point. Boston has won just one series to open the year since the start
of 2021; 2026’s trio of games in Cincinnati was not that exception.
What’s especially frustrating about losing the Reds series this past weekend was that this very easily could’ve ended up being a sweep for the Sox. Boneheaded mistakes, not enough timely hitting (even when you consider a nice two-strike base hit by Ceddanne Rafaela in game one and Wilyer Abreu’s home run with two outs in the ninth inning on Saturday; the RISP production was nearly non-existent), and some pitching that just won’t make the grade. It all combined to put Boston below the .500 mark in the earliest stage of the campaign.
But that’s the thing of it: it’s no time to panic. Social media tax on this anecdote does apply, but I’m sure some of you have seen Red Sox Twitter losing their minds already. It makes me wonder how half of the fan base doesn’t strike out every year by Memorial Day. The likes of Greg Weissert and Caleb Durbin have to be better, yes, but having massive takeaways for the club’s prognosis after just 29 innings of ball isn’t going to be good for anyone. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing worth talking about, though. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be working for OTM.
It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.
Early Returns Are Good
Last week on the site, I posted a Question Of The Day article asking you fine folks who would be Boston’s fifth starter to open the year. The resounding answer was Johan Oviedo, and the reasoning made sense considering the minor league options that were available for lefties. Leading up to Opening Day, however, it was announced that 23-year-old Connelly Early was going to be getting the nod to round out the rotation.
After being named as the starter for Sunday’s finale in Cincy, Early made his argument as to why he belongs in the rotation. After 5.1 innings and 96 pitches, Early surrendered five hits, two walks, and just one earned run while striking out six Reds batters. Doing that in a hitter-friendly environment like Great American Ballpark is no small feat; it just sucks that the rest of the team wasn’t able to pick him up.
He initiated seven whiffs on the day, though his small sample size from 2025 shows a whiff rate of about 34%, which is insane. I won’t say that he’s gonna replicate that rate again in 2026, but the swing-and-miss stuff is there, while he can also initiate a fair share of grounders based on his cup of coffee in the bigs thus far.
Hell, his stuff was good enough on Sunday to impress the guy signing his paychecks!
Maybe an idea within the front office, after Early was named as the fifth starter, was that he could be up with the big club for a few weeks and potentially optioned back down to AAA if needed. Early might not give them the chance to do that, though; he might force the issue and hold onto that rotation spot for the entire year. The kid’s a gamer and while league-wide circles have had Tolle ranked as a higher prospect, Early is clearly no slouch. The pitch mix is enticing, he can cock back and top out at around 96 or 97 MPH when he needs to, and he’s got the moxie to do big things.
Good start to 2026, Mr. Early.
Marcelo “You Bum” Mayer
The other big piece of news after Spring Training wrapped up was that Marcelo Mayer would be Boston’s (essentially) full-time second baseman. Of course, once the lineup for Thursday’s opener against a left-handed pitcher were published, Mayer was not included in the starting nine. Gotta start somewhere, I suppose.
We all know the ceiling that Mayer possesses. We saw it in flashes over the past few days, notably when he was called upon as a pinch hitter on Thursday. He went 2-for-2 and scored a pair of runs late, setting the table for his teammates to get the Sox over the line.
He could be a legit impact player for years to come. His swing is as smooth as butter and he can play very solid defense at multiple spots on the infield. If you wanted to have him over at third while shifting Caleb Durbin to second, I wouldn’t hold you. There could even come a point in the not-so-distant future where we’re asking if Mayer and Trevor Story need to switch spots on the dirt.
All of that is to say that while the potential for Mayer is certainly there, 2026 is an important year to actually see him start to put all of the pieces together. Most of that formula hinges on health—he’s got to play a full season with relative health (if he picks up a knock here or there it’s whatever; I’m talking big picture). Even given Mayer’s unfortunate injury history, I think the team formalizing their plans for him is a step in the right direction. It’s a declaration of trust in his abilities; if he stays healthy, we could see a spike in his continued development.
With that said, I’d like to see Mayer play against lefties a bit more in 2026. I understand the value of platoon splits, and if Romy Gonzalez were healthy I get that second base would likely be a straight platoon between he and Marcelo this season. At some point, though, you’ve got to see what you have in Mayer. If his performance against left-handers became untenable, then changes could then be made. If the organization has dreams of him being an everyday player, however, that bandage has to be ripped off at some point.
In any event, it’s been a good start for Marcelo. Just keep him healthy, keep him in the lineup more often than not, and let him grow into an important contributor.
Oh, and maybe get him some acting lessons as well.
The Age of the Robot Umps
I was lucky enough to be in Cincinatti for the first two Sox games of the 2026 season. Great ballpark, nice area by the park, and very friendly folks down there. Try the ribs at the Lager House across the street from the park, they’re to die for.
So with that in mind, I was able to see the first ever automated ball-strike challenges in Red Sox history on top of the disastrous performance of home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor on Saturday. The man had SIX of his calls challenged and successfully overturned.
Obviously this next statement is only based on my own personal experience from this past weekend, but I think I’m all in on the ABS system because of the crowd’s interaction with it. There were some legit crowd pops when the results came on the video board! It was electric, even if the call wasn’t going our way!
ABS is objective for both teams, it’s fair, and the challenge process is very quick both in person and while you’re watching/listening at your home. I like how you only get two challenges with the opportunity to get them back; it adds layers of strategy while keeping a good chunk of the human element in play. I was skeptical of the system at first, but I say it’s been good thus far.
Manager Alex Cora has to teach our guys when and when not to challenge, as we saw against the Reds over the weekend. You live and you learn, I suppose.
Song of the Week: “Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects
Straight fundamentals to start the season off.
We’ll be back again next week with another MMBB. Go Sox.
