What Craig Breslow said about possible Roman Anthony promotion
"We’re excited about the impact we believe he’s going to have on our major league team," Breslow said of Anthony.
The Red Sox entered Wednesday having scored just five runs in a four-game losing streak. The team has been “starved for offense” since Alex Bregman went down with a quadriceps strain, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.
Boston is sixth in the league in runs scored, but things have dried up lately. They’ve dropped to fourth place in the AL East.
There has been speculation that the Red Sox could soon call for reinforcements, such as top overall prospect Roman Anthony who is hitting .320 with eight home runs and 23 RBI with Triple-A Worcester this season.
With Anthony one step away from the big leagues and the Red Sox struggling, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke with Speier about his view on a potential Anthony call-up.
“Those are a few development opportunities that we want to make sure we lock in,” Breslow said. “Those are things the minor league schedule and training environment afford. Obviously, we have to balance that with our major league needs. That’s a conversation that we’re having every single day.”
The Red Sox called up infielder Marcelo Mayer last Saturday. He is 5-for-15 in his first four games with a pair of doubles. With Kristian Campbell and Carlos Narvarez also in the lineup, the Red Sox already have several rookies playing key roles.
“We’re mindful of putting too much pressure on any individual, or in this case, two or three individuals,” Breslow said. “But also, we need to make sure we’re mindful of the runway and playing time and the likelihood that talented young players can come up and, as they acclimate to the big leagues, struggle at times. All of those are factors.”
“At the same time, it would be impossible to ignore the performance in Triple A given that with each subsequent day, [Anthony] continues to check these boxes. We’re excited about the impact we believe he’s going to have on our major league team.”
There are areas where Anthony needs to keep showing improvement, though, Breslow said. He mentioned the ability to hit non-fastballs in the strike zone and making reads on defense as points where the Sox are looking for improvement.
“He does all these things well, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a chance to try to improve,” said Breslow. “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.”
Breslow said it would be “foolish” to eliminate any possible option for improving the team whether that involves trades or promotions.
The sub-.500 Sox have some options to explore as they attempt to make up ground in the division.
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