Article: Breaking: Roman Anthony Called Up By Red Sox, Will Make MLB Debut Vs Rays

[Brandon Glick]

At long last, the time has finally arrived.

We here at Talk Sox have been clamoring for this day for a while, and it's a relief to finally report that, yes, Roman Anthony is coming up to the big leagues to make his MLB debut. It's currently unclear if he'll be added to tonight's lineup against the Tampa Bay Rays, but expect him to make his debut this series at Fenway Park regardless.

Anthony, the Red Sox's number one prospect and the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball according to MLB.com, is the best player that has proliferated through Boston's farm system in quite some time. He's got 50-grade tools across the board, with his hit and power traits being considered well-above average by most scouts and industry experts. 

This season with Triple-A Worcester, Anthony is batting .288/.423/.491 in 212 at-bats. He's hit ten home runs and struck out nearly as often as he's walked (56 strikeouts, 51 walks). His 146 wRC+ actually falls shy of his mark last year (147), and the 21-year-old (born May 13, 2004) has a career .879 OPS in over 1,100 MiLB at-bats.

It appears he'll replace Wilyer Abreu, who has been struggling mightily in recent weeks following a hot start and is now headed to the injured list. Having played all three outfield positions throughout his time in the minors, Anthony should get plenty of run in Boston, though he'll primarily play right field so long as Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela are healthy and on the roster.

Originally drafted in the second round (79th overall) of the 2022 MLB Draft, Anthony has steadily climbed the minor league ranks and has now emerged as arguably the most talented player across all of MiLB. With Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell already up — and Kyle Teel having been shipped off to the Chicago White Sox in the Garrett Crochet blockbuster — Anthony's debut will mark the final one for the team's vaunted "Big Three". Expectations will be sky-high for the all-galaxy prospect, but if there's anyone who can surpass them, it's Anthony. At 32-35, the Red Sox are barely hanging on to contention; perhaps Anthony's belated call-up will prove to be the spark plug that turns this ship around.

UPDATE: Anthony is batting fifth tonight and will make his debut versus the Rays. Buckle up.

Update II: The team is also selecting the contract of Brian Van Belle from Triple-A Worcester. He has a 2.29 ERA with 41 strikeouts and seven walks in 51 innings this year. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, Boston has designated Robert Stock for assignment (again).

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What do you think about the Red Sox's decision to call up Roman Anthony? What are you most excited for in his MLB debut? Sound off in the comments!

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[Finley Rogan]

Huge day at Fenway! Let us hope that Anthony does not feel too pressured coming in, as many fans will be looking to him to get the season back on track. My prediction would still be that he is electric right away, he is one of the most complete hitting prospects in recent memory. This will also be the second year running that the top prospect debuts at Fenway after Jackson Holliday started off his career there last April.

[notin]

My big decision now is who to drop to activate him on my fantasy team…

[moonslav59]

I hope he hits the ground running.

GO ROMAN!

[moonslav59]

Noda DFA'd to make room on the 40.

[notin]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Noda DFA'd to make room on the 40.

Makes sense.  Noda’s only chance was if Toro failed…

[moonslav59]

That error was not the way to make a first impression.

Gotta get it back tomorrow, It's not "wait till next year" just yet.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

What a great game for Anthony to break in!!!  Except for the loss.  He got a full dose of the excitement of a Fenway game.  The ups and downs were outstanding.  The line-up filled with the future 2026 starters except for Wong and Bregman!!   When Bregman gets back then we'll have a real look at 2026.  Hopefully by then, Anthony, Mayer, Campbell will all be more comfortable with the roles (Mayer at SS) and Duran, Rafaela, Devers and Bregman are pounding the baseball and playing great defense and Narvaez is throwing out runners and hitting well.  That's going to be a fun team to watch the rest of the year!!

Maybe Breslow can find another quality starting pitcher in a trade.  Crochet looks great and Dobbins is all kinds of fun to watch.  Giolito and Buehler need to significantly improve.  Bello as a SP5 is adequate but an upgrade is needed there.  Maybe when Houck returns, he'll return to form.  His upside is so much higher than Bello.

Right now, Boston has Crochet, Dobbins and pray for rain three days in a row.

[notin]

7 hours ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

 

Right now, Boston has Crochet, Dobbins and pray for rain three days in a row.

How woefully unpoetic.

 

You could have at least gone with “Dobbins, Crochet and pray, pray, pray”…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

How woefully unpoetic.

 

You could have at least gone with “Dobbins, Crochet and pray, pray, pray”…

Crochet, Dobbins, and anyone else lobbing

[Hugh2]

I really like Roman Anthony, but I'm concerned about his fielding percentage. 

Anthony had been playing more LF recently in AAA, indicating that's probably where they were planning on bringing him up to play at the MLB level.  Obviously injury changed that direction.  Still makes you wonder who is the odd man out and where his long term home is. 

 

[notin]

Just now, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Crochet, Dobbins, and anyone else lobbing

That works too, despite the stretch…

[Old Red]

Just now, Hugh2 said:

I really like Roman Anthony, but I'm concerned about his fielding percentage. 

Anthony had been playing more LF recently in AAA, indicating that's probably where they were planning on bringing him up to play at the MLB level.  Obviously injury changed that direction.  Still makes you wonder who is the odd man out and where his long term home is. 

 

The Red Sox don’t have a plan outside of shuffling the deck chairs around on any given day. Anthony in RF is no different than Mayer at 3B. They just fill in where there is an available slot.

[Hugh2]

4 minutes ago, Old Red said:

The Red Sox don’t have a plan outside of shuffling the deck chairs around on any given day. Anthony in RF is no different than Mayer at 3B. They just fill in where there is an available slot.

pretty much, and I think that's to be expected.  Moving from SS to 3B is more natural than moving from SS to catcher, and moving from CF/LF to RF is more natural than moving to the infield.  

If you have a stud SS in AAA knocking on the door and your 3B goes down you don't bring up the fringe 3B in AAA and let the stud rot. 

They do have a problem here, and they should have addressed this in the offseason.  It's odd that Campbell was the guy they gave the nod to on day one, and left the most MLB ready of the big three in AAA for 2 months.  

They will be faced with the decision of trading Abreu or Duran soon, and they probably should have made that move this past offseason.  There is such a thing as overplaying your hand.  The good news is, the future is bright....again again again. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

They're called baseball players.

A guy like Refsnyder, when strangers ask him what he does for a living, probably doesn't answer, "Oh, I platoon and pinch-hit vs. left-handed pitchers."
 

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

pretty much, and I think that's to be expected.  Moving from SS to 3B is more natural than moving from SS to catcher, and moving from CF/LF to RF is more natural than moving to the infield.  

If you have a stud SS in AAA knocking on the door and your 3B goes down you don't bring up the fringe 3B in AAA and let the stud rot. 

They do have a problem here, and they should have addressed this in the offseason.  It's odd that Campbell was the guy they gave the nod to on day one, and left the most MLB ready of the big three in AAA for 2 months.  

They will be faced with the decision of trading Abreu or Duran soon, and they probably should have made that move this past offseason.  There is such a thing as overplaying your hand.  The good news is, the future is bright....again again again. 

Anthony debuted after Campbell, Mayer AND Teel. I didn't have that on my bingo card. Offensively, he was the most ready of any of them. The only reason he wasn't on the Opening Day roster was because of a logjam and that's pretty dang stupid.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

22 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Crochet, Dobbins, and anyone else lobbing

Crochet, Dobbins, and others just lobbing.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Crochet, Dobbins, and others just lobbing.

Crochet or Dobbins, otherwise we're sobbing? 

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Anthony debuted after Campbell, Mayer AND Teel. I didn't have that on my bingo card. Offensively, he was the most ready of any of them. The only reason he wasn't on the Opening Day roster was because of a logjam and that's pretty dang stupid.

And I don’t think they have anymore of a plan now when Abreu comes back then before ST.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, Old Red said:

And I don’t think they have anymore of a plan now when Abreu comes back then before ST.

They'll do some sort of OF rotation to limit Roman's at bats so that he doesn't get ROY votes and earn a full year of service. 😬

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Crochet or Dobbins, otherwise we're sobbing? 

SOBing

[illinoisredsox]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

They'll do some sort of OF rotation to limit Roman's at bats so that he doesn't get ROY votes and earn a full year of service. 😬

Probably true.  RA can force the issue, but he’s going to have to need 1975 Lynnesque type numbers to do so.  And even then …

[notin]

3 hours ago, Old Red said:

The Red Sox don’t have a plan outside of shuffling the deck chairs around on any given day. Anthony in RF is no different than Mayer at 3B. They just fill in where there is an available slot.

Like every MLB team?  
 

The Royals just called up Jac Caliagnone (sp?), their top prospect, and put him in RF, a position he never played before this year.

 

Last year the Padres put top prospect Jackson Merrill in CF despite his never playing anywhere but SS. Why?  They needed a CF…

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

Like every MLB team?  
 

The Royals just called up Jac Caliagnone (sp?), their top prospect, and put him in RF, a position he never played before this year.

 

Last year the Padres put top prospect Jackson Merrill in CF despite his never playing anywhere but SS. Why?  They needed a CF…

Where the Red Sox failed was mainly playing Anthony in LF all season (66% of GS in field). He should have been 50/50 between RF and LF. He even had 3 times as many CF starts than RF starts this year, which is ridiculous as he should never play there in MLB. They goofed on that IMO. 

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Where the Red Sox failed was mainly playing Anthony in LF all season (66% of GS in field). He should have been 50/50 between RF and LF. He even had 3 times as many CF starts than RF starts this year, which is ridiculous as he should never play there in MLB. They goofed on that IMO. 

Well, they might have considered CF his most likely opportunity.  Rafaela didn’t enter the season with any sort of offensive stronghold in the lineup and is the only outfielder with infield experience since college (just go with it), making him easiest to move. Maybe that was why he played CF?  Not like Abreu’s injury was planned (as far as I know)…

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, notin said:

Well, they might have considered CF his most likely opportunity.  Rafaela didn’t enter the season with any sort of offensive stronghold in the lineup and is the only outfielder with infield experience since college (just go with it), making him easiest to move. Maybe that was why he played CF?  Not like Abreu’s injury was planned (as far as I know)…

RAF Man, and, or Duran would both have to leave before CF would most likely be Anthony’s best opportunity.

[notin]

1 minute ago, Old Red said:

RAF Man, and, or Duran would both have to leave before CF would most likely be Anthony’s best opportunity.

Duran looks bad in LF.  I could see them trying Anthony over him in CF.

As for Rafaela, it’s possible they figured either Ben him him or moving him to the infield to cover for an injured infielder was exactly what was going to get Anthony in the lineup.  Numerous folks on here suggested benching Rafaela at various times; it’s not much of a stretch…

[mvp 78]

42 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, they might have considered CF his most likely opportunity.  Rafaela didn’t enter the season with any sort of offensive stronghold in the lineup and is the only outfielder with infield experience since college (just go with it), making him easiest to move. Maybe that was why he played CF?  Not like Abreu’s injury was planned (as far as I know)…

They had Rafaela, Duran and Campbell ahead of him in the CF depth chart. I don't see why he'd play CF in AAA at all. That's just me though. 

[mvp 78]

35 minutes ago, notin said:

Duran looks bad in LF.  I could see them trying Anthony over him in CF.

As for Rafaela, it’s possible they figured either Ben him him or moving him to the infield to cover for an injured infielder was exactly what was going to get Anthony in the lineup.  Numerous folks on here suggested benching Rafaela at various times; it’s not much of a stretch…

He looks bad in LF, but I'd still put him in CF before Anthony because of his speed. Maybe his speed helps him out in CF catch up to flyballs that he gets bad reads on, but really hurts him in the shorter porched Fenway. Maybe it only makes sense to me that he could be a better CFer in Boston than a LFer. 

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They had Rafaela, Duran and Campbell ahead of him in the CF depth chart. I don't see why he'd play CF in AAA at all. That's just me though. 

Yes, and just, because Anthony can play CF, orbRF doesn’t mean he should. Especially RF in Fenway.