Roman Anthony, at 20 years old, is the top position player prospect for 2025.
He has a solid chance of making the Boston Red Sox’s Opening Day roster if he continues to produce in spring training and Wilyer Abreu’s unexplained “gastrointestinal virus” keeps him away from baseball workouts for a lengthy time.
Anthony spent two months in Triple-A last season, and he appeared bored at the plate. In 35 games, he hit.344 with a.982 OPS, three home runs, 20 RBI, and as many walks as strikeouts (31 each). Although the Red Sox’s outfield is already overloaded, leaving Abreu off the Opening Day roster would be the ideal approach for Boston to get their top prospect into the majors and get his feet wet.
Anthony’s defense is the one thing that concerns me. He spent the majority of his time in the minors playing center field, with only a few excursions to the corners. MLB Pipeline still gives him a 50 (out of 80) for fielding and says he could be moved to the corner more frequently as he develops.
Tony Massarotti perceived defense as a red light, despite their being no reason to believe so. On 98.5 The Sports Hub, he went on a tirade and nitpicked a scouting report that indicated Anthony should be an above-average outfielder.
“What do you mean, ‘should‘?” Massarotti basically screamed down his mic. “‘Should’ tells me that he’s not good and that he’s gotta grow into it. […] How is a guy the No. 1 prospect in the game if his defense sucks?”
Red Sox No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony had incredibly mature response to Tony Massarotti calling his defensive capabilities into question
This kind of contrarianism is just flat-out annoying. Massarotti went on to say that Anthony projects to be a DH, after reading one scouting report (which was still positive and optimistic about Anthony’s development, per Massarotti himself), nitpicking a single word, and letting himself spiral out about it. It’s unfair to expect that any prospect comes into the majors as a fully-formed player, especially when a player is as young as Anthony and as the gap in difficulty between the minors and majors grows wider.
To his credit, Anthony had a level response to Massarotti’s criticism and used it instead to praise the organization and the city of Boston.
“They’re always there and they hold us to a standard. And I love that,” Anthony said. “I think playing in Boston, you’re playing meaningful baseball 24/7. So just taking on challenges like that is something I’m super excited to be a part of and to learn about when I’m actually there.”
Massarotti looked like he was on the verge of combustion while yelling about Anthony, so killing him with kindness was the perfect way for Anthony to respond. He knows that nothing is promised, and he can surely hold himself to a higher standard than a shock jock.
