WORCESTER – It may surprise Red Sox fans to know that when the organization promoted shortstop Marcelo Mayer, center fielder Roman Anthony, and catcher Kyle Teel from Double-A Portland to Triple-A Worcester earlier this week, no one was more surprised than Mayer.

He thought he was being left behind.

“I didn’t expect it because I was hurt,” Mayer told the Herald. “I didn’t think they would call me up.”

But when it comes to the top prospects known as Boston’s new “Big Three,” there can be no man left behind. Individually, each one is a dazzling talent, but together, they’re unlike anything in recent Red Sox history.

Chalk some of that up to life in the social media age, in which a club’s player development account can post a video of a towering Double-A home run and have it on screens around the world minutes after the ball lands in real time, feeding the ever-growing interest in prospects and Minor League Baseball. There’s also the current state of the big-league team, which has finished last three times in the past four seasons and is currently experiencing another painfully-familiar late-summer slump, which portends more disappointment at the regular-season finish line.

Then there’s the way the organization has handled and marketed the trio, including bringing them to Springfield for Red Sox Winter Weekend back in January – the marquee guests are typically big-leaguers and retired stars only – and how they’ve elevated them to the top level of the farm system: as the ultimate, premium package deal.

The most similar grouping in recent history was in 2016, when Andrew Benintendi, Yoán Moncada and a young Rafael Devers began the season together in High-A Salem. Their paths, however, diverged almost immediately: Benintendi was promoted to Double-A the following month and made his big-league debut on Aug. 2, having leapfrogged Triple-A altogether, Moncada was part of the Chris Sale trade that December, and Devers debuted in July ‘17 and is now the highest-paid player in franchise history.

The “Big Three” moniker is a heavy burden to bear, given its Boston sports provenance: Celtics legends Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish hung three championship banners in the already-crowded Garden rafters in the 1980s, and Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce gave the city Banner No. 17 in 2008.

Anthony told the Herald they received a more personal label in Portland.

“(The manager) called the three of us in,” the 20-year-old outfielder recalled of how they found out they were being promoted, “and I was actually the first one to get in there and I saw the three chairs sitting there, and he’s like, ‘Go get your brothers.’ ”

But to everyone else in the Red Sox universe they’re the “Big Three,” and they’re a very big deal. Even as a teenager, Mayer showed so much potential in the low levels of the farm system that the Red Sox were willing to lose their two-time World Series champion and de facto captain, Xander Bogaerts, who’d been with the organization since he was 16 years old. Or at least that’s what his agent, Scott Boras, implied after his client received a massive deal from the San Diego Padres (Mayer’s hometown team, ironically).

“It’s about choices,” Boras told reporters at client Masataka Yoshida’s introductory press conference at Fenway Park in December 2022. “There’s a certain shortstop they have down in the minor leagues that they want to play here, I imagine.”

In a conversation with the Boston Globe in January, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow singled out the trio when discussing the front office’s low-spending game plan.

“I think the reality is … it’s going to require aggressive player development in the minor leagues and the major leagues so guys that we think are the next wave — Mayer and Anthony and Teel, that group — are not just big leaguers but impact big leaguers,” said Breslow. “The convergence of all those pieces is the fastest path to a World Series team.”

Imagine being one of these three minor leaguers, none of whom are 23 years old yet (Anthony turned 20 in May) and hearing the top executive of one of MLB’s premier clubs effectively say, ‘We’re waiting to spend like we’re THE Red Sox again until YOU get here.’

That’s why it’s impressive to watch Mayer and his ‘brothers’ handle being under the highest magnification setting of the microscope with such ease. But for Mayer, at least, the scrutiny and media attention isn’t just part of the job, but something he’s embraced.

“I enjoy it,” he said. “I think it’s a part of the game that’s enjoyable. Obviously as a human, you can get tired of it sometimes, but as a kid growing up watching big-leaguers play, you remember watching their interviews, seeing all the reporters in front of them, so to me, that’s like what the big leagues is. So that’s kind of what I expected coming into (Triple-A). I don’t mind it at all, I like it.”

The media has one of the most beloved players in Red Sox history to thank for such a positive mindset. And one of their greatest rivals of the last three decades.

“I grew up watching David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, the rivalries, and you just see how many reporters are there doing postgame interviews,” Mayer said. “And to me, that was the coolest thing ever, watching those guys answer the questions with like, 1,000 cameras in their faces.”

Another longtime member of the Red Sox family also played a part in Mayer’s journey, though neither knew it. Revered executive Larry Lucchino, who passed away in April, oversaw the construction and of several of Major League Baseball’s most beautiful ballparks, including Petco Park. Mayer grew up going to Padres games, and even played there as a promising local high school star.

Now, one step away from The Show, Mayer is calling another Lucchino ballpark home. As the owner and chairman of the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate, Lucchino led the team from Pawtucket to a brand-new, award-winning ballpark in Worcester.

“First time taking grounders today, which was really nice,” Mayer said. “The surface is perfect. The facility is amazing. A lot of people say it’s just like Fenway, maybe even nicer just because this is so new.”

When the call from Boston comes, Mayer will make MLB’s oldest ballpark his home. And when he hits his first Green Monster home run, he’ll have Lucchino to thank for the fans sitting in the seats atop Fenway’s legendary verdant behemoth, waiting to catch that special blast.

“That is so cool. I had no idea,” the shortstop said with a smile. “That’s pretty special. I wish I could talk to him about all of it.”