Roman Anthony wasn’t considered a top-100 prospect by any major publication before the season. SoxProspects.com had him outside their organizational top 10 at 11.
What a difference a few months can make. Anthony, a 19-year-old outfielder drafted 79th overall in 2022, is tearing the cover off the ball for High-A Greenville and is rocketing up prospect rankings across the board.
Anthony, who was drafted out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida (he was not yet a student there during the 2018 mass shooting, if you’re wondering), first broke into Baseball America’s top 100 in June, squeaking in at 91. A month later, in Baseball America’s recent midseason update, he jumped all the way up to 35, making him the second-highest-ranked Red Sox prospect after shortstop Marcelo Mayer, who is ranked eighth.
Baseball Prospectus is even higher on Anthony. In their midseason update from July 12, Anthony jumped ahead of Mayer and into the top 10, ranking ninth in all of baseball, with Mayer right behind him at 10. SoxProspects now has Anthony ranked fourth in the organization, behind Mayer, Miguel Bleis and Ceddanne Rafaela.
So, why is Anthony climbing so high so quickly? Well, he’s the youngest player in High-A and in 21 games there, he has eight home runs, 19 RBIs and a ridiculous .338/.484/.770 slash line for a 1.255 OPS. He has nearly as many walks (21) as strikeouts (23).
What’s crazy is that Anthony’s numbers weren’t nearly as good at low-A Salem earlier this season, as he had just one home run, 18 RBIs and a .693 OPS in 42 games there. But according to Baseball America, the underlying data was great even at that level, which is probably why the Red Sox chose to move him up. His numbers in Greenville are now reflecting what was already under the surface.
“According to the underlying data there are few hitters better in minor league baseball than Anthony,” Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes wrote in a piece highlighting the biggest in-season risers. “His bat-to-ball skills are plus, his plate approach is elite and he has strong underlying exit velocity data that points to plus raw power in-game.”
Anthony is currently a center fielder, but most publications seem to believe he’ll eventually end up as a corner outfielder.
If there’s one area where the left-handed hitter needs to improve, it’s against left-handed pitchers. Anthony has just 46 plate appearances against lefties this season and has posted an underwhelming .121/.348/.152 slash line with zero home runs.
Baseball Prospectus’ top-10 ranking may be slightly too high for Anthony at this point, but given how quickly he has risen across the board, it’s not crazy to think that Baseball America and other outlets could have him moving up to that level in the not-too-distant future.
It’s also not crazy to think that he could potentially make the move north and jump to Double-A Portland before the end of this season if he keeps destroying Single-A pitching like he has been.
