Boston Red Sox fans can’t stop wondering when top prospect Roman Anthony will get called up to the big leagues.
It’s also a daily topic of discussion at this point for Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
But unlike fans, Breslow actually has control over when Anthony will receive his much-anticipated promotion. And Breslow weighed in on where he stands on the whole situation with Anthony making every case in the world that he deserves a spot on the Red Sox active roster.
“Those are a few development opportunities that we want to make sure we lock in. Those are things the minor league schedule and training environment afford. Obviously, we have to balance that with our major league needs,” Breslow told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier on Tuesday. “That’s a conversation that we’re having every single day.”
Breslow told Speier it would be “impossible to ignore” all Anthony has done to warrant an immediate call up. The 21-year-old outfielder entered Wednesday slashing .318/.450/.528 with an absurd .970 OPS to go along with eight home runs, including one which traveled at 115.5 mph on Tuesday, and 23 RBIs. Anthony also has nearly as many walks (44) as strikeouts (45) in 49 games.
Story continues below advertisement
Even with that fantastic production, Breslow sees room for improvement in a couple of areas, which he detailed to Speier. Breslow and the Red Sox would like to see Anthony handle non-fastball pitches better while also making more strides defensively in left field.
“He does all these things well, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a chance to try to improve,” Breslow said. “It kind of sounds a bit like we’re overly scrutinizing the performance, but he has really high demands of himself … We just want to make sure that while he’s in the minor leagues and working through these things, we’re giving him the chance to do so.”
The Red Sox could use a jolt in the lineup that Anthony could provide. They have lost five straight games since Alex Bregman went on the injured list and Boston’s offense has looked lifeless without the All-Star bat in the middle of the order.
“We’re excited about the impact we believe he’s going to have on our major league team,” Breslow said.
