This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BOSTON – The Big Three of Red Sox prospects, as they were called throughout the offseason and into Spring Training, might need to be reunited in full to help spark a struggling baseball team that will spend Thursday’s off-day with a season-high, five-game losing streak and with a disappointing 27-31 record.
Kristian Campbell was the first of the highly-touted trio to get the call to The Show, making the club out of Spring Training.
Marcelo Mayer (MLB Pipeline’s No. 8 prospect) got the call last weekend to fill the roster spot left by veteran leader Alex Bregman, who will be out for several weeks as recovers from a severe quad strain.
That leaves Roman Anthony as the last of the three to still be in the Minor Leagues. There’s a chance he will wind up having the best career of the three stud youngsters.
In fact, Anthony is the No. 1 prospect in the game, per MLB Pipeline.
The numbers show that his hitting makes him worthy of that ranking.
In 49 games and 176 at-bats this season, Anthony has a line of .318/.450/.528 with nine doubles, two triples, eight homers and 23 RBIs.
Anthony’s 27 barrels lead Triple-A. So, too, does his average exit of balls put in play velocity (95.5-MLB).
When Anthony hits a home run, he doesn’t just hit it. He mauls it. On Tuesday, Anthony tattooed a leadoff homer at 115.5 mph and a projected distance of 417 feet. Three days earlier, he smashed a 116 mph homer.
All of 21 years old, Anthony is hitting the ball like a Major League player, and it’s clear that he will soon be one.
Why isn’t he up already?
Unlike Campbell, who had a clear path at second base in Spring Training and Mayer (third base was open once Bregman got hurt), finding a spot for Anthony will need more finesse.
Boston’s current starting outfield has Jarren Duran in left, Ceddanne Rafaela in center and Wilyer Abreu in right.
Rafaela, who has struggled to find consistency at the plate this season, is tremendous in center field. However, he is also versatile in that he can play second base, shortstop and third base. Moreover, the Sox have another outfielder fully capable of playing center in Duran.
With Campbell ready to start getting some game reps at first, that could open up some time at second base for Rafaela, though David Hamilton will get time there as well.
There is also a path for Rafaela to get at-bats at shortstop, with Trevor Story in the most prolonged offensive slump of his career.
Rafaela essentially split his time between center and short last season. The Red Sox wanted to keep him in center this season, and the defensive metrics prove that was a sound decision.
However, circumstances have changed and the Red Sox need something – or someone – to ignite them.
It stands to reason that Anthony could be just what they need.
Another path could open if Rafael Devers approaches the club at some point and volunteers to play first base, something the club initially broached with him shortly after Triston Casas suffered his season-ending rupture to his left patellar tendon.
Devers was reluctant to make the switch when initially asked after moving from third base to DH following the acquisition of Bregman.
However, Devers also wants to win, and a return to the field could increase his slumping team’s chances of doing so. If Devers played first, it could create a role in which Anthony could rotate between DH and the outfield, with Rafaela bouncing around as a super-utility player.