What to expect from MLB's No. 1 prospect Anthony in the Majors

The Red Sox have debuted dynamic prospect duos in the same season on several occasions.

In the past 30 years, they brought up Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon in 1996, Jonathan Papelbon and Hanley Ramirez in 2005, Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia in 2006, Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz in 2007, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. in 2013, Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada in 2016. Most of those players went on to win World Series rings with Boston, by the way.

But the Red Sox never have promoted a trio of prospects as promising in the same year as they have in 2025. They called up Roman Anthony to start in place of injured Wilyer Abreu (oblique) in right field Monday night. He went 0-for-4 with a walk and an RBI groundout in Boston's 10-8 loss to Tampa Bay in 11 innings.

Hitting right behind Anthony are second baseman Kristian Campbell and third baseman Marcelo Mayer. Anthony (No. 2), Campbell (No. 7) and Mayer (No. 12) all entered the year ranked among the game’s top dozen prospects on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects list. After Roki Sasaki graduated in early May, Anthony succeeded him as baseball’s best prospect.

Anthony has made a swift rise from fairly one-dimensional high school slugger to a well-rounded player in three years. When he crushed a 450-foot homer during the High School All-American Game at Coors Field in July 2021, he also was known for an overly aggressive approach and a long left-handed swing. After he began to make adjustments as a Florida high school senior the following spring, the Red Sox gave him late first-round money ($2.5 million) as a supplemental second-round pick (79th overall) in the 2022 Draft.

Anthony flew through the Minors, reaching Double-A at age 19 and leading the level's Eastern League in slugging (.489) and OPS (.856) as a 20-year-old last season. He turned 21 less than a month ago and was hitting .288/.423/.491 with 10 homers and an International League-best 51 walks in 58 games at the time of his promotion. On Sunday, he demolished a 497-foot grand slam, the longest home run measured by Statcast at any level this year and the fifth-longest since 2015.

While plus-plus raw power is Anthony’s most obvious tool, he also makes advanced swing decisions and consistent quality contact. He’s a career .285/.402/.477 hitter with 42 homers in 303 pro games and he has yet to face a pitcher in game action who’s younger than he is.

Anthony has one of the quickest bats in the Minors and produces higher exit velocities than most players his age, with his monster blast on Sunday exiting at 115.6 mph. He does a nice job of using the entire field and has the potential to hit .300 with 30 homers per year in the Majors -- and more if he learns to launch balls in the air to his pull side more consistently. He’s plenty effective as is, with his bat speed and the strength in his still-maturing 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame enabling him to hit line drives out to any part of the ballpark.

Anthony’s bat will make him a star, but he can contribute in other ways as well. His speed, arm and defense all grade as average-to-solid and he has shown enough savvy on the bases to swipe 15 per season. He perhaps could get the job done in center field -- though he’s not in the same class as Ceddanne Rafaela -- but he fits better in right.

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Anthony had nothing left to prove at Triple-A but had no obvious opening in an outfield that has a left fielder who finished eighth in American League MVP voting last year (Jarren Duran), a center fielder who’s one of the best defenders in the big leagues (Rafaela) and a right fielder who won a Gold Glove and placed sixth in AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2024 (Abreu). It’s unclear how long Abreu will be sidelined, but a Red Sox club with the 10th-best record in the AL should find a way to keep Anthony in its lineup going forward.

Campbell and Mayer haven’t torn up big league pitching and Anthony may need some time to adjust as well. But there isn’t a younger player in the Majors and there aren’t many with more offensive upside.