FORT MYERS, Fla. — Earlier this week Alex Cora was asked if there was any chance if we could see top outfield prospect Roman Anthony in a big league game this spring. His answer, “hard no.”
Only a couple of days later, there was Anthony’s name penciled into the Red Sox first home game of the Grapefruit League season.
The 19-year-old outfielder, who ranks as Boston’s No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America and as MLB’s No. 21 prospect overall, has enjoyed a meteoric rise since being drafted No. 79 overall in the 2022 MLB Draft. He, along with fellow top prospects Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel, is being heralded as a cornerstone of the next Red Sox contender, and so far the trio have lived up to the hype.
Anthony and Teel are both expected to see significant time in Sunday’s home game against the Minnesota Twins, with Anthony starting in center field and batting ninth while Teel comes off the bench as a designated hitter. Cora said he’s excited to get a closer look at the two prospects and believes it will be good for everyone to give them this kind of big league exposure.
“I was actually thinking about this watching the Orioles yesterday, I know there are some people that have criticized us for banking on these kids in the future. It’s not a given, they’ve got to play, they’ve got to perform, and they’ve got to be good, but Baltimore wasn’t shy about talking about their guys and little by little they’re playing,” Cora said. “We saw (Jackson) Holliday yesterday and today we have a chance to see (Anthony) play and hopefully it’s a good experience for him.”
Cora had a chance to get to know Anthony and Teel better during the Red Sox Rookie Development Program earlier this winter, and the manager said he came away impressed by how advanced both were physically and mentally. Anthony in particular has shown remarkable progress even over the past few months.
“He keeps getting stronger, every time you see him it’s like ‘wow, how much did you gain?’” Cora said. “He keeps getting better. He’s a good conversation too, very mature kid, he understands what he needs to do to make it to the big leagues and hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
As for Teel, Cora said the 22-year-old catcher boasts exceptional athleticism as well, but what caught his attention during the Rookie Development Program was his attention to detail, particularly in bullpen sessions.
“He understands the metrics, he looks at the iPads and he understands pitch shapes and all of that, and he uses that as a tool for feedback with the pitchers,” Cora said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen that, I told him we have to incorporate that into our program because the feedback from the catcher is probably the most important.”
Anthony and Teel are both expected to get two at bats and play roughly half the game. It will likely be harder to find time for the prospects as the spring goes along, especially once center fielder Jarren Duran and catcher Connor Wong are fully cleared for game action, but Sunday should be a treat for the players, the organization and the fans, and perhaps a preview of days to come.
“It’ll be fun for them today to go around and compete, be around the big league staff,” Cora said. “I don’t know how much we’re going to get them throughout spring training but at least we’ll get them once.”