What Can Red Sox Fans Expect From Roman Anthony In His First MLB Stint?

On Monday afternoon, Red Sox fans received what was probably the best news they have heard since they landed Alex Bregman and Garrett Crochet in the offseason. That's right: the long-awaited arrival of Roman Anthony, Major League Baseball's top prospect, has finally come. 

2025 unfortunately hasn't nearly been the type of season fans expected for the Red Sox. With their offseason additions, along with the arrivals of Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer, just about everyone in the baseball space would argue they should be better than their 32-36 record suggests. While the front office kept Anthony at Triple-A Worcester for as long as they did, there were a lot of questions around the organization's commitment to winning at the moment. Now that Anthony has gotten the call, fans can breathe a bit and trust that the Sox are putting their all chips in and shooting for a playoff berth for the first time since 2021. Adding Roman Anthony to the lineup isn't just about giving a prospect an opportunity he deserves, it's about putting your organization's best players on the field, and he is among those players.

So, what exactly makes Roman Anthony a player that can immediately be one Boston's brightest stars? For starters, he has made his skillset pretty apparent at Triple-A, but for those unaware of what his game looks like, this is what you've been missing out on.

In the batter's box, it's a comfortable 60-grade hit and power tool — a combination of tools that doesn't come out of the minors all too often. His ability to make consistent hard contact is really what separates him from the rest of the field. Throughout his minor league career, he whiffed at a below-average to league-average rate, and when he made contact, it was often classified as hard hit more than it wasn't. In his 265 plate appearances at Triple-A this year, his hard-hit% (percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity over 95 mph) was 57.6. Minimum 200 plate appearances, that mark led Triple-A hitters. For reference, Shohei Ohtani, Oneil Cruz, James Wood, and Kyle Schwarber are the only hitters at the big league level with a higher hard-hit%. 

There is little to question when it comes to how Anthony's bat will play in MLB. He's probably going to strike out at roughly a league-average rate. He has struck out at higher rates at different points in his minor league career, but also showed an ability to adjust and bring those numbers down. He has a great eye at the plate and makes excellent swing decisions, which not only allows him to hunt the best pitches to hit, but it also allows him to consistently draw walks over ten percent of the time. Getting exposed on pitches out of the zone is a problem a lot of prospects face, and that should be one less thing to worry about for Anthony. He has also managed to post excellent splits throughout his pro career, which is vital to getting everyday playing time in the majors. He has actually performed better against lefties this year, as was the case in 2024 too, posting a .955 OPS in 75 plate appearances compared to his .879 OPS against righties. 

The biggest question when it comes to the bat is how often will he get the ball in the air. He obviously posts some of the best exit velocities in baseball, reaching a max exit velocity as high as 116 mph at Triple-A this year. However, he has always been more of a line drive hitter, which certainly isn't a bad thing, but in order for him to reach his power ceiling, he will have to get that hard contact in the air more. He has consistently posted ground ball rates near 50% throughout his pro career, while the MLB average is 42.1%. With the amount of pitchers in the league that induce ground balls with ease, that is probably going to be the biggest adjustment Anthony will have to make. Expect pitchers to attack him down in the zone with a lot of breaking balls and off-speed pitches. 

The bat is obviously the premier tool in Anthony's game, but there is present athleticism elsewhere for the 21-year-old to keep his profile afloat if and when he falls into his first big league slump. This is a guy that stole 20+ bases for the first time in his professional career last year between Triple-A and Double-A Portland. He should be a lock to steal at least 10 bases a year even as he grows more into his 6'3" frame. 

While he played center field for the bulk of his minor league career, Anthony appears to be settling into a corner outfield role. He has the athletic upside and arm to hold his own as a major league center fielder, but when defenders like Ceddanne Rafaela man center field, his bat-first profile is likely going to stick in a corner long-term. He played left field more than anywhere else during his 58 games at Triple-A this year, which may be very important in the future as the Red Sox explore trade options to clear up space for Anthony to get everyday reps. 

Projection systems like for Anthony to be a league-average player for the Red Sox for the remainder of 2025. ZiPS DC is the model that favors him the most, and has him hitting seven home runs with a 103 wRC+ and 0.8 fWAR. I feel more confident in Anthony over-performing these numbers than under-performing, especially if he gets enough playing time early on in order to settle in faster. As I've stated before, he has shown an ability to adjust quickly, so I have no doubt he can do the same for the Red Sox. If he does end up performing as just a league-average player this year, Boston can't be too mad at that, as they have consistently deployed a few below league-average bats in their lineup for the first few months of the season now. 

While the focus on Anthony is in the present, it is fun to dream on what type of player he can be in the future. A fun exercise to do just that is by pairing a current MLB player with both their ceiling and their floor. Anthony's ceiling is pretty clear for me, and that's Bryce Harper — a multi-faceted, left-handed hitting corner outfielder that shares very similar traits in the batter's box. The floor? I landed on Mike Yastrzemski — a perennial league-average player that also possesses a similar profile to Anthony. However, let's not give too much attention to worst-case scenario, but rather enjoy what he can provide to the Red Sox right now in the dog days of summer.