NEW YORK -- When will the Red Sox call up Roman Anthony, MLB Pipeline’s top prospect?
The noise surrounding that question has been loud for weeks, and it got louder after the gifted left-handed hitter mauled a grand slam at Triple-A Worcester on Saturday night that rocketed off his bat with an exit velocity of 115.6 mph and a projected distance of 497 feet.
Is it fair to say the Red Sox are having regular conversations about when the best time is to call up their most hyped prospect in years?
"I think it's fair,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora before Sunday night's finale with the Yankees. “Obviously there's always conversations, not only about him, but other players. I've been loud and clear about this whenever I get asked on Wednesdays [during my weekly radio spot]. He’s actually doing an outstanding job. Let's be honest about that. It's just a matter of what we're going to do, how we going to do it, or when we’re going to do it, right? And I keep getting the questions, and that's my best answer.”
The 21-year-old Anthony has played all three outfield spots for Worcester this season.
Boston has a starting outfield of Jarren Duran in left, Ceddanne Rafaela in center and Wilyer Abreu in right.
Rafaela, a brilliant center fielder, has plenty of experience in the infield. In fact, he made half of his starts at shortstop during his rookie season last year. It seems that the clearest path for Anthony at this point would be for Rafaela to start at second base.
In that scenario, Duran could move to center -- a position he was a Gold Glove finalist at last season -- and Anthony could play left. Against lefties, Rafaela could still see some time in center.
Kristian Campbell, the primary starter for the Sox at second base this season, has struggled mightily of late and it’s possible he could go back to Triple-A for more seasoning.
The buzz surrounding Boston’s drafted and developed “Big 3” of Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Campbell never seems to stop.
Mayer was called up for his Major League debut last month following an injury to Alex Bregman and he’s been starting at third base against righties.
The latest tape-measure homer by Anthony was one of a batch of them he’s hit this season. At some point soon, the 31-35 Sox would seemingly benefit from some of that jaw-dropping power.
"I still believe he's not the final product, just like Marcelo and Campbell and Ceddanne and Wily,” said Cora. “There's things that players need to do better, and they will. Right now, we saw [Campbell] here the first month of the season, and we were like, ‘Wow, this is great.’ And now it’s like, ‘Wow, we have to help him out, right?' So understanding that it's not an easy process and not as easy of a transition like people think it is. But at the same time, [Anthony’s] a good player. We know that.”
Anthony spent the entire Spring Training in Major League camp, giving Cora the chance to see him play regularly. He has kept tabs on him since the season started.
"Just watching not only the highlights and all that, but watching what he's doing offensively, it's been impressive,” Cora said. “And we knew this about him. The way he controls the strike zone, how hard he hits the ball.”
In 58 games and 212 at-bats at Worcester, Anthony has a line of .288/.423/.491 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs.