I don’t recall saying “maybe he will completely flame out in Portland”!. Think we are largely in agreement in that there is a lot of development and adjustment that can likely only occur at the major league level. So the relative struggles of guys like Kelenic and Franco was probably unavoidable and even necessary.
I just think we need at least a few months of Mayer at AA before we consider bringing him up to Boston- the idea that we need to wait until 2025 seems potentially too long, to me, and I agree that there is likely not a big difference between AA and AAA (the latter will have more polished pitchers with better breaking stuff perhaps, which could be important).
There probably is some level of failure / challenge you’d like him to face before getting to the big league level (although every players personality is different…and in some cases, a guy may not be totally challenged until he is in the majors).
I just think we need at least a few months of Mayer at AA before we consider bringing him up to Boston- the idea that we need to wait until 2025 seems potentially too long, to me, and I agree that there is likely not a big difference between AA and AAA (the latter will have more polished pitchers with better breaking stuff perhaps, which could be important).
There probably is some level of failure / challenge you’d like him to face before getting to the big league level (although every players personality is different…and in some cases, a guy may not be totally challenged until he is in the majors).