Alex Cora made this ‘honest’ admission about Roman Anthony’s timeline for Red Sox debut
"He’s not knocking at the door, he’s knocking it down."
Roman Anthony has little left to showcase at the Triple-A level.
Despite turning 21 years old on May 13, Anthony entered Thursday batting .318 with eight home runs and 23 RBI over 49 games with the WooSox. Not only is Anthony consistently near the top of the minors leagues in exit velocity, but he’s also only struck out 45 times — and walked 44 times — in 176 at-bats.
Given the reeling Red Sox’s current downturn and struggles at the plate, the writing seems to be on the wall that Anthony will join fellow rookies Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer in the big leagues soon.
So far, no call has come for MLB.com’s No. 1 prospect. Anthony was batting leadoff for the WooSox on Thursday for their game in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Speaking on “WEEI Afternoons” on Thursday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was asked about Anthony’s potential timeline for his anticipated big-league debut.
Even if Anthony has yet to step into Boston’s clubhouse, Cora acknowledged that Anthony is primed to make the jump to The Show in the near future.
“We’ve been having conversations,” Cora said. “We knew, at one point, Campbell was going to be part of [the MLB roster], it just happened on Opening Day. We knew Marcelo was going to contribute at one point, and he’s here already because of injuries. I know at some point Roman is going to be here.
“The timing is something, as an organization, we’re going to decide when. Obviously, he’s doing an outstanding job. He’s getting better. He’s not knocking at the door, he’s knocking it down, let’s be honest.”
While Anthony’s production at the plate and knack for getting on base would be welcome on this anemic Red Sox lineup, it remains to be seen how exactly Boston will accommodate the blue-chip prospect in the outfield.
If Boston plans on giving Anthony regular reps in the outfield, they will need to move one of Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran, or Wilyer Abreu. Rafaela would seemingly be the odd man out, but taking his Gold-Glove-caliber defense out of center field would be a blow.
Speaking to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier earlier this week, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow explained why Boston has yet to call up Anthony.
“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.”
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