Rays, Red Sox prospects rekindle friendships at Spring Breakout

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- For one moment, the future was the present along Florida’s Gulf coast.

Roughly 90 minutes before first pitch of Thursday’s Spring Breakout opener between the Red Sox and Rays at Port Charlotte Sports Park, Red Sox No. 1 and 3 prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer emerged from the visiting dugout to be greeted behind home plate by Rays top prospect Carson Williams, a San Diego-area high school shortstop from the 2021 Draft, exactly like Mayer.

Seconds later, they were joined by 2024 MLB Pipeline Hitting Prospect of the Year Kristian Campbell and 104-steal man Chandler Simpson, teammates from the 2022 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Rays first basemen Xavier Isaac and Tre’ Morgan -- late Breakout scratches but attendees all the same -- got in the mix of daps and back pats.

It was a pregame party of six Top 100 prospects and the fastest man in baseball. The admission was their reputation. But in this case, no reservations were required.

“It just happened naturally,” Simpson said. “I mean, it’s love.”

“A lot of guys on that side we played with in the Futures Game as well,” Mayer said. “In games like that, you make a lot of good connections. So it's always good to see those guys.”

If "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the 1919 White Sox emerging from the Iowa corn in "Field of Dreams" were images meant to evoke baseball’s past, Thursday’s coming together of potential future legends on a Florida field served like a trailer for a coming attraction.

Until those prospects proved they were ready to put on a show of their own.

Campbell and Mayer got things going with back-to-back homers in the third inning off Rays right-hander Trevor Harrison -- the former slamming one deep to right-center and the latter following two pitches later with a pulled shot down the line in right.

That combination of power would have been a highlight of Spring Breakout in its own right, something to rival last year’s biggest moment of Paul Skenes striking out Jackson Holliday in a meeting of former No. 1 overall Draft picks. But Anthony -- this year’s top participating prospect as the No. 2 overall talent in baseball -- couldn’t be left out of the fun for long. The left-handed slugger, known for his plus hitting ability and plus power, ripped a burner to right in the fifth -- moments after a member of the Rays-friendly crowd tried to start an “Over-rated” chant to no avail.

“I think any time we get to play together,” Anthony said, “it’s enjoyable.”

But the night wasn’t over for slugging Top 100 prospects. Williams still needed to do his part in the slugfest, and he did so in the eighth inning, driving his own homer to left-center. There may have been a specific target with that long ball.

“I'm really close to Marcelo, just being from the same area,” Williams said. “We talked about it. He said he had more pop than me. He hit the homer. I had to back it up. He’s smiling at me. That was a blast.”

Not to be lost in this either, Simpson showed off his trademark wheels with a bunt single earlier in the game and in a double steal with Homer Bush Jr. shortly after.

The Rays ended up taking the Breakout opener, 7-5, but the score was in some ways immaterial to Thursday’s experience from a talent and overall baseball standpoint. The goal of Spring Breakout, now in its second season, is to take prospect battles that happen in relative obscurity on Spring Training backfields and put them under the big lights of Major League stadiums across Arizona and Florida. It’s also meant to bring prospects together before they go spreading to Minor League destinations across all four corners of the country.

It’s a way for former teammates, like Simpson and Campbell, to check in.

“I actually saw him the first full week of the season at High-A, and he wasn't doing so well,” Simpson said. “Then I talked to him after that series, and he was like, ‘It's all right, I'm gonna figure it out.’ I didn’t know he meant that, but I'd say he definitely figured it out.”

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“Figured it out,” by the way, was Campbell leading the Minors with a 180 wRC+, while ranking second with his .439 on-base percentage and .997 OPS, all while reaching Triple-A in his first full season.

It’s a way for friendly rivals to one-up each other too.

“We go back and forth all the time,” Williams said of Mayer, “and obviously he’s a super special player. We just go at it. We always want to be competitive with each other and we're just having a good time.”

It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that this wasn’t just a matchup between two loaded farm systems, ranked No. 2 (Rays) and No. 3 (Red Sox) in MLB Pipeline’s 2025 preseason rankings; it was also a game between AL East organizations. If all goes well for Thursday’s standouts, they’ll cross paths several more times in the Majors, perhaps as early as this summer.

“Hopefully we see this be a growing rivalry for years and years to come,” Simpson said. “Hopefully, we can go back and forth for a long time.”

Prospects are defined by that hope, by the belief they instill in fans for the great baseball that may soon come. But there didn’t need to be belief on Thursday. There only needed to be witnesses to the sport’s next generation.

Four rockets and a man with rockets for shoes -- that’ll do it.

“Are you kidding me,” Williams said. “This is MLB’s dream.”