On Thursday morning, Red Sox team president Sam Kennedy joined WEEI for his regular appearance on The Greg Hill Show, and was asked about a timeline for calling up superstar prospect Roman Anthony from Triple-A.
“What’s the process like in figuring out the future and the arrival date of a guy like Roman Anthony?” asked WEEI’s Chris Curtis. “I mean, best prospect in baseball, is hitting like crazy in Worcester. Obviously many factors go into that. Could you give us some insight as to how you guys are preparing for his arrival this season?”
“Well, we just keep walking by Bres’ office saying, ‘Come on, man. What are we waiting for? Let’s go!’” Kennedy said tongue-and-cheek, with “Bres” being chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
“We said the same thing to him when he was on last week,” said WEEI’s Greg Hill.
“Yeah, it’s so exciting to have guys who are literally knocking on the door and trying to play their way into the big league lineup,” said Kennedy. “I think the thing with him or anybody else - when you have someone who is in a sort of top-of-the-minor-league player development cycle, you wanna make sure that they’re fully ready, and when they come up they’re going to come up to stay. So when guys are performing who you already have at the big league level, you do have a bit of a wait-and-see.
“So really, there’s no magic to it. There’s the old baseball saying, ‘These things usually take care of themselves.’ I don’t like saying that because that oftentimes results in an injury or someone underperforming. But it’s been great to see, and I’m sure he’ll be up sooner rather than later, but you never know. That will be a decision that Craig has to make, and he’s gotta navigate this over the weeks ahead.”
“In this day and age in baseball, do the economics play into it?” asked Greg. “Is it smart business to wait on him so you end up with extra time on the end of the deal?”
“No - look, the best business is winning games at the big league level, I can tell you that,” said Kennedy. “Nothing else matters. You can think about roster construction as it relates to anything you need related to player development. But from a business perspective, winning games at the big league level is what it’s all about. So to the extent that anyone in our system that can help contribute to winning games at Fenway Park, that’s what’s best for business.
“We have to balance that with development, making sure that the guys are completely ready and that there’s room, obviously, on the roster. So it’s a good problem to have if you have guys performing, and guys performing throughout the organization. But the most important thing for business, Greg, is winning baseball games at Fenway Park.”
Through 21 games this season for the Worcester Red Sox, the 20-year-old outfielder has been raking at the dish:
- .297 batting average
- .436 on-base percentage
- .554 slugging percentage
- .990 OPS (on-base + slugging)
- 22 hits and 19 walks in 94 plate appearances
- 4 home runes
- 13 runs batted in
- 5 doubles
- 17 runs scored
With Triston Casas having a slow start to the season, fans and media alike have wondered if it makes sense to have Anthony begin getting reps at first base down in Worcester, hoping that his 6-foot-3 frame would translate to a key corner infield spot for the big league club, thus giving them a more consistent bat in the middle of the order moving forward.
The WooSox social media team added fuel to this fire, posting a short video of Anthony fielding grounders during pregame drills on Saturday.
Despite the buzz, and the obvious luxury it would be to have your top prospect have positional flexibility, Worcester manager Chad Tracy shut down the notion of Anthony at first on Monday, getting out in front of the topic before the question was even asked during his pregame scrum.
“We’re not putting [Roman Anthony] at first base,” said Tracy. “There has been no conversation about putting him at first. We’re getting him ready to play left field.”
After Tracy shut this down, credit to the media in Worcester for going right to the source, as they asked Anthony about the video posted by the social team.
“That’s just outfield work that I started with [former WooSox bench coach and current Red Sox first base coach Jose Flores] last year when he was here,” said Anthony. “Like a routine for me to just get the hands going before the outfield starts.”
Until Anthony is playing with the big league club, pressure will continue to mount from both fans and media alike, especially if he continues to play at a high level for the WooSox.
The Red Sox are back in action on Thursday afternoon against the Mariners with Garrett Crochet (2-1, 1.13 ERA) on the mound. Bryan Woo (2-1, 3.12 ERA) gets the start for Seattle. First pitch at Fenway Park is set for 1:35 p.m. ET.
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