The Red Sox's Young Core Is A Work In Progress, But At Least They Can Barrel Baseballs

While the current part of the season has been incredibly trying for the Boston Red Sox, there’s still quite a bit to be excited about when you dive under the hood and explore their Statcast metrics. When we want to look at just how solid of a hitter each player is, one aspect we like to highlight is their barrel percentage. This tells us how often the player is squaring up the ball and making solid contact. If you were to assume which players are leading the charge in barrel percentage on this team, I’d venture to guess that the top four names actually on the list aren’t the first four that come to mind. Those four are: Romy Gonzalez at 14.3%, Roman Anthony at 13.3%, Wilyer Abreu at 13.2%, and Ceddanne Rafaela at 11.7%. Outside of Gonzalez, those are three core members of the Boston Red Sox who are all in their first year or two of MLB service time. That’s absolutely huge and should bode incredibly well for the future of the franchise. 

It’s no secret that Roman Anthony isn’t having the typical offensive success you’d expect for such a highly touted prospect. He’s currently slashing just .128/.293/.255 with just one home run on the team. Under the hood, though, there’s a ton to be excited about. He’s making loud contact, it’s just often right at someone on defense. He’s regularly hitting rockets over 90mph and he’s topped out at 112.3mph in the majors so far. When we add in his barrel percentage, we start to get a much clearer picture of just who he is as an offensive player. Anthony is the type of hitter who can square balls up with enough frequency to become an annual 30-plus home run threat. We’ve seen what he can do once he’s comfortable in Triple-A with his moonshots that made the rounds before he was called up. Now, he has to figure that out at the major league level, though his batted ball metrics suggest he's closer to that than you may expec.t

Wilyer Abreu has seen his barrel percentage climb each season he has been with the big league club, from 9.4% in 2023, to 11.1% in 2024, to this season’s 13.2%. While Abreu doesn’t profile as a power-first hitter, his ability to get the bat in the zone and barrel balls up means that he’s tapping into a newer source of power in 2025. Just through June, he’s only hit two home runs behind his entire season total from 2024 (15 last season to 13 this season). He should soar past that number by the trade deadline. As Abreu continues to grow as an offensive player, expect that barrel percentage to climb higher and his power numbers should do the same. 

Ceddanne Rafaela clocks in at 11.7% on the season so far. Compared to last season, 7.5%, we’re seeing a player who is growing more and more confident in his swings and getting results at the plate. It’s no coincidence, then, that his hard hit percentage is the highest it has been in his short career at 44.9%. He’s having the best offensive season of his career. Pair that with the potential Platinum Glove defense he’s playing in center field, you have a player who is proving that his contract extension is going to be a steal over the life of it. His offensive uptick should help to lock him in as a focal point of the team for years to come.

Romy Gonzalez is likely not a future building block of the team, but his production this season shouldn’t be ignored. He’s been thrust into a role that none of us expected as a key first baseman in a platoon to replace the injured Triston Casas, and he’s performed incredibly well in that role. He’s been clutch, and his ability to barrel balls against left-handed pitchers is unparalled on the team right now. Unless the team significantly upgrades the first base position at the trade deadline, then he should continue to produce as a southpaw masher for the rest of this season.

Although the team on the field looks drastically different right now, it’s important to remember that the young core of this team is primed to break out and become very legitimate big league contributors. Some of those core members, specifically Roman Anthony, are slated to be superstars and have a ton of weight on their shoulders. The future outfield, in particular, seems to be set with Anthony, Rafaela, and Abreu. It isn't as glamorous as a postseason berth, but continued development from their core players will mark the second half of this season as a resounding success in Boston.