It Is Past Time For The Red Sox To Call Up Top Prospect Roman Anthony

The Boston Red Sox took two of three from their rival New York Yankees over the weekend. Yet they still remain 8.5 games behind the division leaders. And, potentially more importantly, they are three games under .500, and four games out of a Wild Card spot, needing to jump over four teams to make the post-season. They need to do something drastic to change the trajectory of their season.

Since winning American League rookie of the month in April, Kristian Campbell is slashing .165/.232/.233 (and that includes four hits over the weekend in New York) and playing mediocre second base. Center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense, is hitting .244, with a .296 on-base percentage. Marcelo Mayer stepped into the void left at third base when Alex Bregman went down with a quad injury, making his major league debut, and has hit .222, with an OBP of less than .300. And while the Red Sox are sixth in MLB in team OPS (.753), and tied for sixth in home runs (83), with their pitching is in tatters (23^rd overall with a 4.13 ERA; leading MLB in blown saves), they need to augment their offense. And, if they could do that while solidifying their defense, all the better.

As a team, Boston has the fifth worst defensive efficiency (the rate at which they convert batted balls into outs). The Red Sox have used rookie sensation (?) Campbell at second base for 52 games this season, and the results have been disastrous. As a team, they have the third worst Defensive Runs Saved at the position, and Campbell, having played 425 innings at second, is tied for the third worst Fielding Run Value per Statcast.

But what if they could fortify that offense (with Bregman out for a few more weeks and Casas down for the season), while also augmenting their defense? What if they had a player just fifty miles down the road ready to step into the breach? What if there was guy in Triple-A slashing .288/.423/.491, with 10 home runs, including a 497-foot grand slam on Saturday night, just waiting for the call?

Roman Anthony is the consensus #1 prospect in all of baseball. He has done everything the Red Sox have asked of him, including playing all three outfield positions over the course of the past two seasons (not for nothing, they could have asked him to take some grounders at first as well).

All Boston would need to do to improve their club is send Campbell down to Worcester for a few weeks to get his bearings offensively and defensively. They could then move Rafaela to second base (where he played capably for 10 games last season); or send Rafaela down to try to improve his approach at the plate (he is currently swinging at 42.7% of pitches outside the strike zone), and keep Campbell with the big club. Then they slide Jarren Duran from left field to center, where he played 105 games last season with 17 Defensive Runs Saved, was six Outs Above Average, and had a Fielding Run Value of +8. In short, swapping Duran for Rafaela will not hurt Boston’s defense in center field.

With Duran out from in front of the Green Monster, a spot opens up for Anthony and his ferocious bat. Ken Rosenthal laid it all out in The Athletic over the weekend. Rosenthal questioned whether or not the Red Sox are keeping Anthony in the minors so he doesn’t achieve “Super Two” status, which would give him an additional year of salary arbitration. But the team had no such concerns about Mayer, who they brought up weeks ago; and they have already signed Campbell and Rafaela to long-term, team-friendly contracts, so there is no reason to believe that they wouldn’t try to do the same with both Mayer and Anthony. One year of (potential) arbitration cannot be worth the wait (or the talk radio/internet/broadcast vitriol inflicted upon the club at this point).

For years the Red Sox have vacillated between acting a like a big market team (massive contracts for Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Chris Sale, Rafael Devers) and a mid-market club (low-balling Jon Lester, trading Mookie Betts rather than making a serious offer, bowing out on Xander Bogaerts (wise, in hindsight)). However, they have not hesitated to lock up young stars. In addition to the deals referenced above, they signed home-grown pitcher Brayan Bello to a long-term deal, and extended Garrett Crochet shortly after acquiring him from the Chicago White Sox this past winter. So, a deal for Anthony could be in the offing, which would obviate any concerns about potential arbitration proceedings.

The time for the Red Sox is now. The team begins a homestand against the Rays tonight, and then the Yankees comes to town for the weekend. Get the rookie’s feet wet with Tampa Bay, so he is ready to rock and roll come Friday night with a raucous crowd at Fenway Park. Mayer hit his first career home run against the Yankees in the Bronx last Friday night. Wouldn’t Anthony doing the same a week later be a perfect bookend to a new chapter in Red Sox lore? Manager Alex Cora recently told ESPN’s Karl Ravech that Anthony is “not knocking on the door, he’s actually kicking the door.” Maybe Boston can make everyone’s lives easier by simply opening it for him.