WASHINGTON — It’s a strange existence, this life as baseball’s No. 1 prospect. The greater glory is often in anticipation, the projection of minor league greatness to big league excellence, and the parlor game of just when a buzzworthy talent will land at the game’s highest level.
Roman Anthony reached that apex on June 8, when he hit a 497-foot grand slam for Class AAA Worcester, a blast that figuratively punched his ticket from central Massachusetts to Fenway Park. Days later came the hurried drive east, the first big league start, hit and RBI and the fan delirium of what might come next.
And then, the hard part.
“You kind of understand that as a player – when you’re a prospect in the minor leagues and then when you come up here, nobody really cares anymore about your prospect status,” Anthony tells USA TODAY Sports.
“It’s time to help the team win.”
To that point, Anthony, 21, has been wildly successful, even if his first almost month in the major leagues has not yet produced a sizzle reel worth of sharable moments.
It would be hard to match the hype: Anthony’s ascent as a hitting savant since the Red Sox chose him with the 79th overall pick in 2022 crested these past two seasons, as an .879 career minor league OPS zoomed to .940 at Class AAA.
So when Anthony began his career with two hits in his first 27 at-bats – an .074 average and .416 OPS – the hype machine cooled. And a maelstrom gathered around him: The club abruptly ended its cold war with All-Star slugger Rafael Devers and on June 15 traded the designated hitter to San Francisco in a blockbuster that roiled two franchises.
Anthony had one major league hit to his name then, but the Red Sox did not consider spoon-feeding him; instead, they moved him to the No. 3 hole, and he’s batted either second or third in 16 games since.
They were rewarded with such foresight: Anthony has 16 hits in 50 at-bats since, a .314 average. One week ago, he had no multi-hit games; now, he has four, coinciding with the Red Sox winning five of seven to crawl back to .500 at 45-45 entering July 6.
“Now,” says Red Sox manager Alex Cora, “he’s finding green. He’s getting on base at a high rate. He’s doing an outstanding job.”
Even if his contributions aren’t the stuff of breathless anticipation.
Roman Anthony overcomes ‘gap’ between minors, MLB
It’s true: Home runs get the headlines. And Anthony hasn’t homered in nearly three weeks and 56 at-bats, since his first and only big league dinger off Seattle’s Logan Gilbert on June 16.
That’s not surprising given his batted-ball profile: Anthony’s groundball rate of 55% is 11% higher than the league average. He has struggled most with spin, to be expected of a young player, with a 40.5% whiff percentage on breaking pitches, more than three times his rate against fastballs.
And yet, he’s ripped six doubles and makes the right contributions to keep the lineup whirring. Cora lauded his focus in drawing a walk with an eight-run lead Friday; the next day, he hit a ball to the right side to move a runner that scored, then rolled a pair of singles that way to aid the Red Sox’s 10-3 victory over the Washington Nationals.
That we are witnessing the building of a foundation as opposed to an instant smash is hardly a surprise in this era. Since the revamping of the minor leagues in 2022, the gulf between Class AAA and the big leagues has been widening.
Anthony played just 93 games over two seasons at Worcester and was a month past his 21st birthday when he debuted in Boston. He was tossed into a grind where three-city, nine-game road trips are common, whereas the minor leagues have largely shifted to a format where six-game series in one destination are commonplace.
“I think the gap between minor league baseball and the big leagues is the biggest I have witnessed as far as stuff, execution, fastballs, obviously breaking ball stuff,” says Cora. “Traveling, everything. This whole six days in one city – it doesn’t prepare them for this. We played at 11 yesterday, we play at 4 today, tomorrow at 1, hop on a plane and then we got seven in a row in Boston.
“Minor league baseball is not preparing these guys for what this is. They’ve done a good job adjusting. The organization does a good job with them when they get here, try to keep it as simple as possible. But it’s a big adjustment period.”
Anthony adds another factor to this: The cutthroat nature of the majors, where the game becomes a binary – did you win or lose? – as opposed to the developmental priority of the minor leagues
“I think the biggest adjustment is learning how to prepare yourself to help the team win every single day,” says Anthony. “In the minor leagues, and coming to the big leagues, the idea of showing up every day to win is so much different than it is in the minor leagues.
“My experience so far has been awesome.”
It doesn’t hurt that the Red Sox are hitting an offensive high point in the post-Devers era, scoring double-digit runs in four of their last seven games. They haven’t shown a consistency in all phases to compete in the American League East but encouraging performances of late from starters Lucas Giolito and Walker Buehler create some hope they may can stay in many more games than they were earlier this season.
Cora admires Anthony’s ability to flush outcomes with the aplomb of a much more veteran performer.
“He’s a consistent player, a consistent individual,” says Cora. “He does not get caught up in results. He wants to put up good at-bats.
“He wants to get better.”
Roman Anthony would ‘much rather have it this way’
Anthony, of course, is just one of a gaggle of mega-prospects who came up through Worcester in recent years, now playing alongside infielder Marcelo Mayer. The third piece of their Worcester triad one year ago, catcher Kyle Teel, was dealt to the Chicago White Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade this winter.
Teel made his debut one week before Anthony, and the two talk or text frequently, Anthony admiringly noting that Teel is “killing it” on the South Side, with a .283 average and .400 OBP.
Yet it is Anthony – who will officially lose his “prospect” status by around the All-Star break – that many in the game believe will produce a 15-year career. Become an elite hitter. And, eventually, elevate the ball, put more of them in the seats and remain the longtime cog in the Red Sox lineup.
That’s still a way off. And the new-car sheen of his debut has long faded. Yet the beginning of a long relationship is only just beginning – with Anthony quietly fulfilling his end of the bargain, with greater things to come.
“I feel like AC trusts me and I feel like I’ve been having good at-bats and doing what I need to do to help the team. Continue to get better at that every day,” says Anthony. “Credit to the staff, trusting me and putting me in that position to hit there with such a great lineup around me.
“I’d much rather have it this way than be a prospect in the minor leagues. I’m in the big leagues and this is the dream – to be here. Just being a player on the Boston Red Sox who is trying to help this team win.”
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