Red Sox prospect expert explains why Roman Anthony ‘should play every day' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s approach with top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer has left some scratching their heads.
Cora has preferred to bench Anthony and Mayer — both left-handed hitters — against left-handed pitching. Only seven of Mayer’s 44 big-league at-bats have come against lefties, and Anthony has only one AB against a left-hander in his first three career games. Cora pinch-hit lefty masher Rob Refsnyder for Anthony against a southpaw in the 11th inning of Monday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays — Anthony’s MLB debut.
Asked on Tuesday about sitting the duo against lefties, Cora mentioned the sizable gap in pitching talent between Triple-A and MLB. He also noted Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez’s success against left-handed pitching.
Are those valid reasons for sitting Anthony and Mayer against southpaws? Ian Cundall of SoxProspects.com shared his opinion during a recent conversation with NBC Sports Boston.
“I think with Marcelo Mayer, it makes sense,” Cundall said. “If you see him in person, he does have some issues against left-handed pitching. You see it notably in the strikeout-to-walk ratio, he just doesn’t walk against lefties. I don’t think he sees the ball as well against them, and he just doesn’t have as much power against them. So sitting Mayer against lefties, I understand.
“With Anthony, I don’t necessarily agree with that. He looks extremely comfortable against lefties. He reads the ball well, he doesn’t chase, there’s no real difference in his output with approach metrics and batted ball data. So, with someone like him, I would prefer not to platoon an elite elite prospect.”
Anthony’s actually has fared better against left-handers throughout his minor-league career. The 21-year-old slugger posted a .955 OPS against lefties this season at Triple-A Worcester and a .879 OPS against righties.
Anthony and Mayer’s splits aside, it’s a crucial developmental year for both prized prospects. It would make sense to give them reps against left-handers so they can get the full big-league experience, rather than growing accustomed to platooning during their rookie campaigns.
“You look at the last couple of years, the big left-handed position player prospects who’ve come up, guys like Corbin Carroll and Jackson Merrill, they’ve all faced lefties in their rookie year,” Cundall added. “Has it been up and down? Yeah, but that’s the only way to get better is to see them consistently.
“I think with someone like Anthony, who’s that elite number one prospect in all of baseball, he should be playing every day, in my opinion. Whereas Mayer, who is in that tier below and has had some struggles with lefties, I’m fine platooning him.”
It will be interesting to see whether Cora sticks to his approach if New York Yankees left-hander Ryan Yarbrough takes the mound in their upcoming series at Fenway Park. Mayer wasn’t in the starting lineup when Yarbrough pitched against the Red Sox in the Bronx on Saturday.
With Thursday off, Boston will begin its three-game series against New York on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.
