Article: Roman Anthony's Work Ethic Has Him Where He Is Today

[Nick John]

“I think he’s a first-rounder,” Douglas coach Todd Fitz-Gerald told Miami Herald about Roman Anthony leading up to the 2022 MLB draft. “He won’t go past the second round. He can hit, he has power, an above-average arm, he’s athletic, and he has a good work ethic.”

Red Sox fans are well aware of those traits, as they’ve watched the number one prospect in all of baseball develop since getting drafted 79th overall in the 2022 MLB draft. He would sign for a $2.5 million signing bonus, the highest given out by the Red Sox in the 2022 draft. Anthony had been considered a top prospect entering the draft, having finished his high school career by hitting .520 with 52 hits, 14 doubles, 10 home runs, 40 RBIs, and 36 runs while being named the Broward 7-A Player of the Year while playing for Marjory Stoneman Douglas. That stat line in his senior year position Anthony as the 100th best player in the draft according to Baseball America, due in part to having already committed to playing college baseball for Ole Miss. There were also concerns about swing-and-miss potential that came with his raw power.

That didn’t scare the Red Sox from grabbing the highly-talented outfielder with the 79th pick, a compensation pick from the Detroit Tigers for signing Eduardo Rodríguez in the offseason. You couldn’t blame the Red Sox, as in 61 career games for Stoneman Douglas, Anthony hit .443 with 20 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs and 61 RBIs, all while going 46 for 46 in stolen base attempts. His on-base percentage was .556 and his OPS was an astounding 1.376.

Despite that, Anthony was not viewed as a top prospect around the league when he first broke in. Several prospect rankings only had him as high as the ninth best prospect in the Red Sox system, and he did not break into MLB’s Top 100 until after the 2023 season started.

Anthony’s small sample of a season in 2022 saw him play 20 games between the Florida Complex League and for the Salem Red Sox. His time in Salem did not go too smoothly, as he struggled and only hit .189/.279/.243 with only two doubles and five RBIs. In total he went 7-for-37 in his first taste of pro ball. It was in 2023, however, when he burst onto the scene.

Opening the year in Salem, he appeared to struggle, as he only hit .228/.376/.316. However, despite the low batting average, Anthony was showing he was more than capable of a promotion, as his underlying metrics were very impressive especially thanks to his 38 walks and batted ball data. As Brian Abraham said in an article by MassLive’s Christopher Smith, “The way he was hitting the ball pull0side, how hard he was hitting it, the ball coming off the bat and the angles he hit the ball off the bat to the pull side, showed that there was going to be more success, more power coming in the near future”.

Upon reaching Greenville. he proved that analysis correct. In 54 games with the Drive, Anthony began to enter the conversation for top prospects in the game. By mid-August, Anthony had risen up to be No. 37 on MLB Pipeline’s top prospect rankings and was the No. 2 prospect in the Red Sox organization. Anthony managed to hit .294/.412/.569 with 12 home runs, 38 RBIs and 40 walks in his stint in Greenville. He would finish the 2023 season in Portland, playing ten games for them where he absolutely crushed everything thrown to him. In 44 plate appearances, he hit .343/.477/.543 with one home run and eight RBIs.

After a phenomenal run, Anthony entered 2024 as the 24th ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, and while Pipeline had him ranked as the second overall prospect in the Red Sox organization still, other rankings had him ranked first.

2024 was more of the same for Anthony, as he proved his 2023 was no fluke. Opening the year in Portland, Anthony would go on to play 84 games there, slashing .269/.367/.489 to go along with 15 home runs, 20 doubles and 45 RBIs. He also scored 60 runs and walked 48 times in that span. Anthony had officially cemented himself as one of Boston’s “Big Four” alongside first-round picks Nick Yorke, Kyle Teel and Marcelo Mayer. As the season went along, however, Anthony only improved and ran away with the designation of Boston’s top prospect. By mid-August, he was promoted once more, this time to Triple-A Worcester, where he immediately knocked on the door for the majors in just 35 games.

In that short time with Worcester, Anthony dominated, hitting .344/.463/.519 in 131 at-bats. He also had three home runs, 20 RBIs and 12 doubles to go along with 31 walks despite being over six years younger than the average age of players in Triple-A. As the season came to a close, Anthony was named the number one prospect in all of baseball for a short time, being usurped only by Roki Sasaki after he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The discussion during the offseason leading into the 2025 season was if Anthony would break camp with the Red Sox or if they would keep him in Worcester for a short while. That topic only picked up steam when the Red Sox invited him to spring training as a non-roster invitee and he played exceptionally well. Discussions were had by the fanbase if Anthony would play right field to begin the year, should Wilyer Abreu be unavailable due to an illness that kept him out most of spring training.

That wasn’t the case, as Anthony was reassigned to minor league camp and was told he would open the season with Triple-A Worcester. The Red Sox continued to say that there were some things Anthony needed to work on, but both the eye test and his stat line proved otherwise.

In 58 games with Worcester this season, Anthony dominated the competition despite being one of the youngest players in the league. The young outfielder hit .288/.423/.491 along with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. Anthony also walked 51 times in that span, showing a keen eye and an understanding of the strike zone. His final weekend in Worcester included not just a series sweep of the Rochester Red Wings, but also a 497-foot grand slam to right-center field. 

 

During his time in Worcester, Anthony only swung at pitches outside of the zone 18.5% of the time while making contact on pitches in the zone at 83.3% of the time. What may be most exciting about the young outfielder was the fact he was in the 100th percentile for walk rate (19.3%), to go along with other categories that saw him in the 100th percentile such as average exit velocity (95 mph), barrel rate (20.3%), and hard-hit rate (58.9%).

He did have a few issues, however, as he has only pulled balls in the air at a 5.7% rate, and has only pulled the ball at a 33.5% rate. Though, when you look at the build of Fenway, that may work out well for the 21-year-old, as he can quite often take advantage of the Green Monster. Defensively, he has played all three outfield positions, but this year, he has mainly played left field.

Anthony is now up in Boston, the final member of the new Big Three to make it up as he joins Kristian Campbell and Mayer as key pieces for not just the present, but the future of the Red Sox. As he’s shown throughout his entire life playing baseball, Anthony will continue to put in the work to be the best player he absolutely can be. There may be some struggles as he adjusts to a new level of competition, but it will only make Anthony a better player in the long run. The future is now, as Anthony will look to be a potential spark plug for a team that is trying to turn a corner on their inconsistent season.

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