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Nick Kurtz Wins American League Rookie Of The Year, Earns Full Year Of Service Time

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Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz has been named the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. His teammate Jacob Wilson finished second and Roman Anthony of the Red Sox finished third in the voting. Kurtz, who was the unanimous choice for the award, will be retroactively awarded a full year of service time by finishing in the top two of the voting. The full voting results can be found here.

Kurtz was the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft and came into 2025 as one of the top prospects in the league. He didn’t break camp with the club but was called up on April 23rd. Almost immediately, he started showing his talent for crushing the ball. Due to his late call-up and a brief injured list stint for a strained left hip flexor, he only got into 117 games, but that was still enough time for him to put the ball over the fence 36 times.

It wasn’t a perfect season, as Kurtz struck out at a high 30.9% rate. However, his 12.9% walk rate was quite strong. When combined with his aforementioned power, it was a very productive season. His .290/.383/.619 slash line translated to a wRC+ of 170. Among hitters with at least 20 plate appearances this year, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani topped that wRC+ number.

It’s impressive that Kurtz did so much despite not even playing a full season. His late call-up also has notable implications for him and the club. The most recent collective bargaining agreement included measures to discourage service time manipulation. If a team promotes a top prospect early enough in a season for him to earn a full service year, the team can earn an extra draft pick if the player meets certain awards voting criteria, via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. On the flip side, if a player is not promoted early enough for a full service year and then goes on to finish in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting in his league, then he is retroactively credited with a full service year.

Kurtz came into the year as a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball, meaning he would have been PPI-eligible this year if the A’s had called him up earlier. He only got 159 days of service, 13 shy of the 172 needed for a full season. If he were PPI-eligible, this award win would have netted them an extra draft pick in 2026. Since they did not call him up early enough and Kurtz finished in the top two of the voting, he will get a full year of service anyway. That reduces the club’s window of control over Kurtz from six years to five, meaning he’s now on pace to reach free agency after 2030 instead of 2031.

Wilson is Kurtz’s teammate but the two are polar opposites when it comes to their offensive profiles. While Kurtz strikes out a lot but also draws walks and has huge power, Wilson has modest power and rarely walks but almost never strikes out. His 7.5% strikeout rate this year was the second-lowest among qualified hitters, trailing only Luis Arráez. Wilson only hit 13 home runs and drew a walk in just 5.2% of his plate appearances, but he still managed to hit .311/.355/.444 for a 121 wRC+ while playing the premium position of shortstop, even if his defense wasn’t highly rated.

The shortstop actually got promoted in July of 2024 but he landed on the injured list and missed enough time to still have rookie status coming into 2025. Despite having rookie status, he would not have earned the A’s a PPI pick even if he had finished first in the voting. Players are ineligible for the PPI bonus if they have at least 60 days of service time. Wilson earned 73 days of service in 2024, much of it on the injured list, meaning he was in a weird twilight zone of being rookie eligible but not PPI eligible.

Anthony came into the year not only as a top 100 prospect but most rankings had him first or second in the league. However, the Red Sox had a crowded outfield mix that was difficult for him to break into. Eventually, injuries opened a path and he finally got the call in June. By August, he had impressed the Sox enough that they signed him to an eight-year, $130MM extension.

Though he only got into 71 games, Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 for a 140 wRC+ and stole four bases. He was credited with seven Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average. FanGraphs credited him with 2.7 wins above replacement in less than half a season. He would have pushed those numbers even further if not for an oblique injury sending him to the IL in early September.

Anthony only got 112 service days this year. He would have earned a full year if he had cracked second place in the voting, though that is largely a moot point with his extension. However, the result does impact him financially when looking at the details of his pact. The deal contains a number of escalators which Anthony can unlock via awards voting. Some extra money could have been tacked on with a top two finish but this third-place finish isn’t enough for him to add anything to the $130MM total. He can still push that up in the future by getting MVP votes.

Several other players received some recognition from the voters. Noah Cameron of the Royals finished fourth in the voting, followed by Colson Montgomery of the White Sox, Carlos Narváez of the Red Sox, Jack Leiter of the Rangers, Will Warren of the Yankees, Luke Keaschall of the Twins, Braydon Fisher of the Blue Jays, Shane Smith of the White Sox, Cam Smith of the Astros, Chandler Simpson of the Rays, Luis Morales of the A’s and Jasson Domínguez of the Yankees.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Daniel Kucin Jr., David Richard, Imagn Images

Red Sox Promote John Soteropulos to Assistant Hitting Coach

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The Red Sox have made John Soteropulos an assistant hitting coach, reports Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. Soteropulos had been a minor-league hitting coordinator since 2023. Before joining Boston’s organization, Soteropulos was a trainer at Driveline Baseball.

McCaffrey adds that Soteropulos worked with minor leaguers on boosting bat speed and exit velocity during his time as a hitting coordinator. That group included top prospects Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer. The trio debuted in 2025, with varying results.

Campbell made the team out of camp. He hit .301 through April, then fell off a cliff in May, batting .134. He continued to scuffle into June and found himself back in the minors. Mayer got the call at the end of May. He showed big power, though it came with strikeout issues. A wrist injury ended his season in July. Anthony had by far the most success of the bunch. He joined the big-league club a few weeks after Mayer. Anthony shook off a slow June to put up a massive July and August. He posted a .920 OPS and a 156 wRC+ from the beginning of July through the first week of September, when he injured his oblique. The strain would end his season.

Boston’s hitting coach is Pete Fatse. He joined the team as an assistant hitting coach in 2020, before being promoted to the head job in 2022. Dillon Lawson is also joining the staff as an assistant hitting coach. He served as hitting coach for the Yankees from 2022 until midway through 2023.

Add Soteropulos to the growing list of employees to make the jump from Driveline to big-league organizations. Driveline founder Kyle Boddy spent time with multiple teams, including as a consultant with the Red Sox. Eric Jagers, the company’s former Manager of Technical Development, is currently the Vice President of Pitching for the Mets. Sam Briend, who led Driveline’s pitching development program in Seattle, has been the Yankees’ Senior Director of Pitching since 2019.

Red Sox To Place Roman Anthony On Injured List

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Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony exited yesterday’s game due to soreness in his left oblique. He’ll be placed on the 10-day injured list, manager Alex Cora revealed in a radio appearance on WEEI today. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reported not long beforehand that Anthony was likely to be placed on the IL and that the Sox would recall utilityman Nick Sogard from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.

Cora didn’t provide a timetable for Anthony specifically, speaking instead in general terms while pointing out that oblique strains often take four to six weeks to heal. Obviously, there’s a chance that Anthony’s regular season is over.

It’s terrible timing for the Red Sox (not that there’s a “good” time to lose a player of Anthony’s caliber). Boston is 2.5 games back of the division-leading Blue Jays in the American League East. They’re veritable playoff locks by now, but the Red Sox have a real chance of moving to the top of the division and potentially securing a bye through the first round of postseason play. Attempting to do so without Anthony will make that task far more daunting.

Since making his big league debut on June 9, Anthony has been Boston’s best offensive performer. Through 303 plate appearances, he’s hitting .292/.396/.463 with eight homers, 18 doubles, a triple, a 13.2% walk rate and four stolen bases (in five tries). The resulting 138 wRC+ indicates that Anthony has been 38% better than an average hitter at the plate. Among Red Sox hitters, only newcomer Nathaniel Lowe has a better mark, and that comes in a sample of just 41 plate appearances.

Further complicating matters for the Sox is that Anthony will join Wilyer Abreu on the injured list. He’s been out since mid-August with a calf strain and doesn’t appear close to a return. Cora said just last night that Abreu has yet to even resume running (link via the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey). That leaves Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela in two of the three outfield spots, and a rotating cast of characters to mix and match in the third. Masataka Yoshida, Rob Refsnyder, Nate Eaton and the aforementioned Sogard are among the possibilities. Yoshida has played the field just four times this year after offseason shoulder surgery.

It’s possible Anthony heals abnormally quickly and is back on the field before season’s end, but based purely on the history of oblique injuries in recent years, it’s far likelier that he won’t be ready to return until the postseason is underway. The Red Sox will have to hope that they’re still alive when Anthony is cleared to return, and even then, he might need to jump right back into the mix after a lengthy layoff and without the benefit of a true minor league rehab assignment. At the very least, they’ll hope to have Abreu back by that point, but Boston’s outfield look far less formidable now than it did three weeks ago.

MLBTR Podcast: Walk-Year Performances, Roman Anthony’s Extension, And More!

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should Tigers fans be nervous? Is the club worse off going into next year? Should they trade Tarik Skubal this winter? (38:55)
  • The Mets didn’t trade Mark Vientos at the deadline and Pete Alonso is trending towards opting out. Will the Mets move on from Alonso this time? (51:05)
  • The teams that are considering six-man rotations, should they piggyback two of them in one game? (57:20)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline, Imagn Images

Red Sox Notes: Anthony, Garcia, Sandlin

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The Red Sox and Roman Anthony agreed to an eight-year extension worth at least $130MM in guaranteed money earlier this week, fully cementing the young star as a key part of the team’s future.  The two sides had somewhat lightly discussed an extension prior to the season, as The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes that a “true back-and-forth about a framework” never happened, even after three different offers from the Sox shortened what started as “a considerable gap” in asking prices.

It seemed like the negotiations were going to be put on hold until after the season until chief baseball officer Craig Breslow contacted both Anthony and agent Mark Rodgers with a new offer on August 3.  As Breslow explained to Speier and other reporters, the team felt free to revisit talks with the chaos of the trade deadline now in the past, with the caveat that they obviously wanted Anthony’s focus to remain on the field.

“The balance that we needed to strike was trying to aggressively extend Rome and recognizing how important he is to our 2025 team and also our future with not presenting or creating a distraction when this team is playing so well…[We were] very clear with Mark and Roman’s camp that we had no interest in allowing this to become a distraction, and that if we could work through this quickly, that would be great, and if not, that was also OK,” Breslow said.

The talks were restarted between the team, Rodgers, and two other Frontline Athlete Management agents.  A couple of smaller details almost held up the proceedings entirely, but a deal was eventually reached.  The end result was the eight-year commitment that might be worth another $70MM, depending on whether or not Anthony hits any of the many escalator clauses attached within his contract.

Anthony is the fifth different Red Sox player to sign an extension since Breslow took over the front office in October 2023, as the executive has made a point of locking up cornerstone players.  Garrett Crochet was signed to a six-year, $170MM deal after being acquired from the White Sox this past offseason, and Boston has also signed homegrown youngsters Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Kristian Campbell, and Brayan Bello to long-term deals.

These contracts are a testament to both upper management’s belief in this young talent and the depth of the Red Sox farm system.  The pipeline isn’t even dry yet, as another intriguing prospect could still be called up to address the team’s need at first base.  Jhostynxon Garcia has been a career outfielder in the minors but he is working out at the position at Triple-A.  Worcester manager Chad Tracy said Garcia could potentially see some game action at first base within the next week.

“If that’s the only way we can speed him up, then we might have to do it,” Tracy told Speier.  “We take into consideration, ultimately, if he makes a mistake and it’s costly, oh well, at least it’s not at Fenway….At the same time, you also don’t want to throw a player out there to the wolves who you feel like is not ready and have him standing out there with his shoulders down feeling like he’s costing the team.”

Hitting-wise, Garcia seems very ready for the Show, as he has batted .303/.370/.581 with 16 home runs over his first 262 Triple-A plate appearances.  Given the crowded Red Sox outfield, a move to first base would allow “the Password” a much smoother path to the bigs before 2025 is over.  The presence of Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro (Boston’s current first base platoon) would provide cover to help alleviate any pressure on Garcia, and his bat could be an intriguing x-factor for the Red Sox in the playoff race.

Along these same lines, starter prospect David Sandlin has been pitching out of the Worcester bullpen with an eye towards a possible relief role on the MLB roster.  Sandlin has made only four appearances total at the Triple-A level, but if he looks good in his new assignment, the hard-throwing righty could be in line for another quick promotion up to the Show.  Speier reports that Sandlin was a popular trade ask for rival teams heading into the deadline, speaking to how much interest the right-hander has generated due to both his pitching arsenal and his results in Double-A in 2025.

Red Sox Extend Roman Anthony

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The Red Sox locked up another budding star, signing outfielder Roman Anthony to an eight-year extension covering the 2026-33 seasons with a club option for 2034. The Frontline Athlete Management is reportedly guaranteed $130MM on a deal that also includes significant escalators based on Rookie of the Year, MVP and All-Star voting.

Anthony receives a $5MM signing bonus. The salary breaks down as follows:

  • $2MM in 2026
  • $4MM in 2027
  • $8MM in 2028
  • $15MM in 2029
  • $19MM in 2030
  • $23MM in 2031
  • $25MM in 2032
  • $29MM in 2033
  • $30MM club option (no buyout) in 2034

The escalators apply to the 2032 and 2033 seasons. They would also apply to the 2031 season if he finishes top two in Rookie of the Year voting in 2025. Anthony’s salaries will increase by $1MM if he comes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting. The salaries would also increase by $2MM for each MVP win in any previous year, $1MM for coming second or third in MVP voting, $750K for a fourth or fifth in MVP voting, $500K for finishing sixth through tenth in MVP voting and $200K for any All-Star appearance. Those same escalators would apply to the club option except the top-two ROY finish would add $2MM instead of $1MM.

As things stand, the deal buys out all six of Anthony’s initial seasons of club control, plus two free-agent years with an option over a third free-agent season. However, if Anthony finishes top two in American League Rookie of the Year voting, he’d receive a full year of service for the current season, thus meaning the deal would lock in three free-agent years with a club option over a fourth.

Regardless of the exact number of free-agent years being bought out, the Sox now control Anthony all the way through 2034 — what will be his age-30 season. He’ll still be able to become a free agent ahead of his age-31 campaign, positioning him for another potential nine-figure contract down the road.

Anthony’s deal draws plenty of parallels to the eight-year, $111MM extension Corbin Carroll signed with the D-backs in January of 2023. Both outfielders were regarded as the top prospect in the sport when they debuted in their age-21 seasons. Both found immediate success and quickly signed eight-year deals beginning with their age-22 seasons.

As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Anthony’s contract becomes the third-largest guarantee ever given out to a player with under one year of major league service time. Julio Rodriguez’s $210MM deal with the Mariners currently tops the list, though that agreement came when Rodriguez was much further into what would eventually be a Rookie of the Year-winning campaign in 2022.

Selected with the No. 79 overall pick in the 2022 draft, Anthony stormed through the minor leagues, breaking out with a huge performance in High-A as a 19-year-old and never looking back. By measure of wRC+, he was at least 40% better than league-average with the bat at every stop from High-A through Triple-A, and he’s carried over his outstanding production through his first 46 major league games.

In 190 plate appearances as a big leaguer, Anthony is hitting .283/.400/.428 with a pair of homers, 15 doubles, a triple, two stolen bases, a 13.7% walk rate and a 24.7% strikeout rate. He’s averaged a scorching 94.1 mph off the bat and seen a whopping 58% of his batted balls exit the bat traveling at least 95 mph. His overall power output has been muted by a 55.4% ground-ball rate, but Anthony elevated the ball more in the minors and figures to do so as he continues to acclimate to big league pitching, at which point he’ll get to more of his plus-plus power. For now, the walk-heavy approach and plethora of doubles is getting the job done just fine; Anthony has been 33% better than average in the batter’s box since arriving in the big leagues.

Anthony doesn’t possess elite contact skills but does make excellent swing decisions. His 73.1% overall contact rate and 81.6% contact rate on pitches within the zone are both four points below league-average, but Anthony’s chase rate on balls off the plate (just 20.1%) is eight percentage points lower than average. Among the 292 hitters with at least 190 plate appearances in the majors this year, he’s tied for the 19th-lowest chase percentage, per Statcast.

On the defensive side of things, Anthony has split his time between the two outfield corners but spent more time in right. He’s seen time in center field in the minors, but scouting reports on Anthony typically pegged him for a long-term home in one of the corners. His arm isn’t elite but is at least average, if not a tick better. Anthony has drawn strong defensive grades for his work thus far (+5 Defensive Runs Saved, +4 Outs Above Average). He gives the Sox another talented defender to join the trio of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, all of whom are plus defenders in their own right.

That glut of outfield talent — plus Masataka Yoshida’s presence at DH — has long prompted speculation about a potential trade from the group. Duran and Abreu have seen their names kicked around the rumor mill dating back to the offseason. Boston would surely welcome the opportunity to escape some of the final two-plus years on Yoshida’s five-year contract, which runs through 2027, but with $18.5MM salaries in each of the next two seasons, doing so is a tall order. Anthony was never going to be traded, and this new long-term arrangement only further solidifies him as a foundational piece for the Red Sox.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Red Sox and Anthony were finalizing an eight-year, $130MM deal with a club option for 2034. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the $30MM option value. Alex Speier of The Boston Globe had the specific salary and escalator structure.

Red Sox Notes: Anthony, Yoshida, Bregman

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There has been a lot of extension speculation surrounding Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony but he tells Rob Bradford of WEEI that no real progress has been made on that front. “There hasn’t even been a single peep about it since I’ve been here,” Anthony said. He also said “both sides have handled that well in terms of just letting me go and play.”

The Sox came into the year with three top prospects in Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell. There were extension rumors surrounding all three in the winter and Campbell eventually did put pen to paper, signing an eight-year, $60MM deal in early April.

A deal for Anthony might be a bit trickier than one for Campbell, as he is two years younger and was more of a highly-touted prospect on his way up the ladder. Anthony is currently only 21 years old. If he stays up in the minor leagues for good, he’s slated for free agency after the 2031 season, which will be his age-27 campaign.

That gives him a tremendous amount of earning power down the line, if he is able to develop as hoped. He has only hit .219/.345/.356 so far, but in a tiny sample of 87 plate appearances. If the Sox have faith in his ability to hit his ceiling, they will be motivated to lock him down as soon as possible. Otherwise, his earning power will only increase as he gets more established and closer to arbitration and free agency.

Though from the perspective of Anthony and his representatives, they surely see a path to a healthy free agent market a few years down the line and would need strong motivation to give up on that. For now, based on Anthony’s comments, it seems he’s primarily focused on his gameplay. Perhaps there will be more of a focus on contract talks in the offseason.

Elsewhere in news surrounding the Red Sox, Masataka Yoshida started a rehab assignment yesterday as he looks to finally return from ongoing shoulder problems. Part of that rehab appears to be some first base drills, though manager Álex Cora downplayed the significance of that work.

Per Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Cora framed the work as mostly Yoshida preparing for an emergency. “I don’t anticipate him starting at first base,” said Cora, “but if something crazy happens, at least he can catch throws and knock down a ground ball.”

Yoshida has only played the outfield in his career, both in North America and in Japan. However, the Sox currently have a fairly crowded mix on the grass consisting of Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu and Rob Refsnyder. Meanwhile, the club has been trying all sorts of things at first base since the Triston Casas injury. Rafael Devers didn’t want to play there, which led to his trade to San Francisco. Utility players Abraham Toro and Romy González have been splitting the time at first lately.

That gives some logic to having Yoshida get some work there. It also aligns with his injury, as he has largely been able to hit this year, but throwing has been the problem. With Devers having been in the designated hitter spot for much of the year, the inability to throw essentially made Yoshida unrosterable. Now that Devers is gone and Yoshida is getting healthy, he’s not quite as blocked from playing time as before, but adding first base to his repertoire still makes sense.

Speaking of roster shuffling, third baseman Alex Bregman could be back from the injured list soon. Per Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Cora hopes Bregman can return in the club’s homestand prior to the All-Star break, which goes from this Monday to next Sunday. Mayer has largely been covering that spot recently, so he could get moved to second base when Bregman returns. Campbell has been optioned to the minors, leaving David Hamilton at the keystone most nights. Hamilton is hitting just .174/.215/.278 this year, so he should get bumped to the bench or the minors.

Bregman was having a great season before a quad strain sent him to the IL, having hit .299/.385/.553 for a wRC+ of 158. That made him very likely to trigger his opt-out at the end of this season and return to free agency. If he can pick up where he left off, he would provide a big boost to the Boston lineup and also get back on track for triggering that opt out.

His contract situation has led to recent speculation in two different directions. With his looming potential return to free agency, there has been a bit of smoke on the trade front, while it also seems possible that the Sox could use some of the money saved in the Devers trade to lock up Bregman for the long term. They are currently 44-45 and 2.5 games back of a playoff spot.

Photo courtesy of Joe Nicholson, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: White Sox Ownership, Roman Anthony, And The Diamondbacks’ Rotation

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Do the Mariners need a left-hander in the rotation? (40:45)
  • What will the Braves do with the rest of the season and would they trade Chris Sale? (45:30)
  • With the Mets seemingly having too many young infielders, who stays and who goes? (53:35)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Red Sox Promote Roman Anthony

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It’s finally Roman Anthony time. The Red Sox announced that the top prospect in baseball has been selected to the roster. Fellow outfielder Wilyer Abreu has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain. First baseman/outfielder Ryan Noda has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot.

Anthony, now 21, has been at or near the top of prospect lists for a while now. The Sox grabbed him with the 79th overall pick in 2022, a compensation pick they received after Eduardo Rodríguez rejected a qualifying offer and signed with the Tigers.

After a brief professional debut in that 2022 season, he took off in 2023. He climbed from Single-A to High-A to Double-A, putting up a combined .272/.403/.466 line and 140 wRC+. That made him a consensus top 25 prospect in the sport coming into 2024. He raised his stock even higher last year, slashing .291/.396/.498 for a 147 wRC+ between Double-A and Triple-A.

In addition to that work at the plate, Anthony tallied double-digit stolen base totals in both 2023 and 2024. He is also considered a strong outfield defender. By the end of 2024, he was already the #1 prospect in the league for some outlets. Some publications bumped him to #2 once Roki Sasaki was signed by the Dodgers, though others kept Anthony in the top spot.

Between Anthony, Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Kyle Teel, the Sox had four tremendous prospects generating excitement this past offseason. The four were often mentioned in trade rumors and Teel was eventually flipped to the White Sox as part of the Garrett Crochet deal, though the other three remained and still provided a lot of optimism about the future.

Coming into 2025, with that hype and already having 35 big league games under his belt, a quick promotion for Anthony seemed possible. However, his time in Triple-A has dragged on, despite murmuring from all corners of the baseball world.

Initially, some of that was justified. He was dealing with some shoulder soreness in April and spent some time where he was only serving as the designated hitter and not playing the field. But that quickly passed and he kept putting up huge numbers at the plate. The question then became one of playing time in Boston. The Sox have spent most of this year with a crowded outfield mix consisting of Abreu, Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela, with Rob Refsnyder and Campbell also factoring in.

That didn’t leave a clean path for Anthony to get playing time, especially with Rafael Devers taking up the designated hitter spot on an everyday basis. Still, many were calling for the Sox to simply call him up and figure it out.

Those calls grew louder when the Sox lost both of their corner infielders. First, Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury. That led to much speculation about Devers getting plugged in at first in order to open at-bats for Anthony, or perhaps Anthony taking first base himself. Understandably, the Sox didn’t want to mess with Anthony’s development as an outfielder, so they never gave much consideration to that. Devers was unwilling to try his hand at first base. Then third baseman Alex Bregman went on the IL with a quad injury that could keep him out for a couple of months, but the Sox never seemed to really consider the possibility of asking Devers about going back there.

As all that was going on, Anthony continued to put up massive numbers for Worcester. As of today, he has a .288/.423/.491 line and 146 wRC+. He has ten home runs and three steals in 58 games. His 19.2% walk rate is almost as high as his 21.1% strikeout rate. Now, finally, it seems like this Abreu injury will open the door for him to get to the big leagues.

As the season drags along, the playing time puzzle might return. That will depend on Abreu’s injury and how long it will take him to get back. At some point, maybe Masataka Yoshida will finally get healthy and re-enter the equation.

It’s possible things will work out organically. Other injuries may arise before those guys heal up. Anthony might struggle, as even the best prospects can sometimes need a bit of time to get their feet wet in the big leagues. Campbell also followed a hot April with a rough May. If he doesn’t get back on track, perhaps he could get optioned to the minors with Rafaela moving to the infield. But on the other hand, Rafaela is the best defensive center fielder of the bunch. Duran and Anthony can play up the middle but each is considered a better fit for a corner. There’s also the shortstop question, as Trevor Story has been heating up of late but is having a bad season overall. Mayer is up to cover for Bregman at third but hasn’t quite fully clicked in the big leagues yet.

There will also be long-term things to be sorted out. The crowded outfield situation has led to trade rumors surrounding Duran. Bregman could opt out after this season and it’s unclear if the Sox would be willing to return Devers to that spot. Casas is expected back by next year’s spring training but he has also been in trade rumors. Devers isn’t willing to play there now but perhaps he would be more amenable with an offseason to prepare. Campbell has dabbled with some first base drills but hasn’t officially played there yet.

In time, there should be more clarity on the club’s long-term plans. For now, Sox fans can get excited about Anthony’s emergence and hope that it helps turn around a middling season. The Sox are currently 32-35, fourth in the American League East and four games back of a Wild Card spot. Even if they can’t engineer a comeback this year, players like Anthony, Mayer, Campbell, Rafael, Duran, Abreu and others can be affordably controlled for years to come, giving the club an exciting core to build around.

As a consensus top prospect, Anthony is eligible for the prospect promotion incentive. Since the Sox didn’t promote him early enough to get a full service year the traditional way, they won’t be able to earn an extra draft pick based on awards voting this year. Anthony can technically earn himself a full year of service time by finishing in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting, though that will be tough to do. Players like Jacob Wilson, Shane Smith and even Anthony’s teammate Carlos Narváez have a big headstart on him. Even if he performs well, it would be hard to catch up to those guys with more than a third of the season already in the books.

If Anthony manages to pull that off, he would hasten his path to free agency by a year. Otherwise, he would be on pace to hit the open market after 2031 at the earliest, though future optional assignments could also impact that timeline.

Noda, 29, was just acquired from the Angels a few weeks ago in a cash deal. He’s a three true outcomes guy, with lots of homers and walks but also strikeouts. In 606 big league plate appearances, he has a 34.2% strikeout rate, 15% walk rate and 17 homers. That adds up to a .212/.344/.369 line and 107 wRC+. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has 574 minor league plate appearances with 25 home runs, a 16% walk rate and 28.2% strikeout rate. That leads to a .259/.395/.474 line and 125 wRC+.

The Sox grabbed him for extra first base depth with the Casas injury but now risk losing him. DFA limbo can last as long as a week but the waiver process takes 48 hours, so Boston could take five days to explore trade interest. He is still optionable for the rest of this year and one additional season. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Sox as non-roster depth.

Christopher Smith of MassLive first reported that Anthony was being promoted. A few minutes earlier, Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported that a promotion was possible. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first noted that Abreu was going on the IL, though Alex Speier of The Boston Globe had previously suggested that an IL stint for Abreu was likely.

Photos courtesy of Ashley Green, Imagn Images

Craig Breslow Discusses Red Sox’ Struggles, Future Plans

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The Red Sox have been one of the more disappointing teams in baseball this year. While they’re shielded from consideration for the most disappointing club in MLB thanks to their division rivals in Baltimore, Boston entered the season as a trendy pick to win the AL East but currently sit three games under .500, 3.5 games back of a Wild Card spot, and 8.5 games back of the Yankees for the division title. While the calendar has not yet flipped to June and there’s plenty of time for a club floating around .500 to turn things around, that didn’t stop chief baseball officer Craig Breslow from expressing urgency in his comments to reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) regarding the state of the team earlier today.

“The simple answer is it’s not good enough. It’s not the performance we expected in the offseason,” Breslow said, as relayed by Cotillo. “It’s too late in the season and I think the the evidence is too strong to just say, ‘We’re gonna be OK tomorrow when we wake up.’”

Those comments seem to indicate that changes are necessary in order for the Red Sox to reach their maximum potential, though Breslow did not announce any specific changes ahead of this afternoon’s game against Atlanta. Reporting has subsequently indicated that there will be a handful of roster moves ahead of tomorrow’s game, but one name that does not yet appear to be coming up to the majors is top prospect Roman Anthony. Widely viewed as the sport’s top prospect and boasting a .306/.435/.505 slash line for Triple-A Worcester, fans have grown impatient waiting for his highly-anticipated major league debut.

Breslow’s comments didn’t shut the door to the possibility of Anthony coming up in the near future but didn’t provide any new hints that his debut could be on the horizon, with Cotillo suggesting that Breslow simply repeated past comments about wanting to call Anthony up into a situation where he’ll be able to thrive. Aside from the possibility of a promotion for Anthony, Breslow was also asked about the job status of manager Alex Cora. Breslow stood by his manager, referencing his decision to offer Cora a three-year extension last summer.

“We obviously made a commitment to Alex,” Breslow said, as relayed by Cotillo. “We’re gonna see that through. Right now, it’s about making sure that we’re doing everything we can to enable the 26 guys on our roster to help us win as many games as possible.”

It would certainly be a shock to find out that Cora is on the hot seat after the club committed to more $7MM annually to him for the 2025-27 seasons, so it’s hardly a surprise that Breslow shut down the idea of parting ways with his manager. Even so, the fact that the possibility of a change in the dugout came up at all during the scrum highlights the sense of urgency surrounding the Red Sox, and Cotillo adds that Breslow did not fully rule out the possibility of changes to the coaching staff. Breslow emphasized that the club is prepared to “pull a string that that we think will impact our success on the field” should one arise, though he also made clear that he wouldn’t want any changes made to “paper over a more deeply rooted problem.”

One place where the Red Sox appear poised to make some substantial changes in the near future is first base. While Rafael Devers seemingly remains unlikely to move to the position anytime soon, Kristian Campbell has been doing drills at the position in recent weeks and is expected to make his first career start at the position tomorrow, as Cotillo noted yesterday. Romy Gonzalez is also expected back from the injured list in the relatively near future after serving as the club’s primary first baseman during the brief stretch between Casas’s injury and his own. It’s unclear what sort of timeshare will be had at first base once Gonzalez and Campbell join Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard as players capable of handling the position on the roster, but it seems safe to expect everyone from that group who remains on the roster to make at least occasional appearances at first for the time being.

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