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By Jon Vankin
Contributing Sports Writer
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How good is Boston Red Sox prospect Roman Anthony? Most Red Sox fans, and baseball fans in general, are aware that the 20-year-old from West Palm Beach, Florida, is the top position-player prospect in baseball.
He would rank as No. 1 overall if MLB Pipeline did not insist on including Los Angeles Dodgers rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki, who has never thrown a minor-league pitch, as a "prospect."
What many fans may not know is that Anthony is performing at an astonishingly high level, albeit at Triple-A Worcester — so high in fact, that his underlying numbers compare, often favorably, to New York Yankees six-time All-Star and two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge.
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While it is obviously too early to predict Anthony will reach Judge-like levels in the major leagues, it is clear Anthony has nothing left to prove at the Triple-A level.
According to Statcast numbers reported by Fangraphs, Anthony's hard hit percentage — that is, balls that leave his bat traveling at least 95 mph — stands at 61.7 percent as of Monday. Judge has a rate of 58.8 percent. The MLB average is 40.3 percent.
Anthony is also on par with Judge in barreled balls, which are defined as balls that come off the bat traveling at least 98 mph at a launch angle from 26 to 30 degrees. According to Statcast, a ball hit with those characteristics produces a batting average of .500 and a slugging percentage of 1.500.
Anthony has been hitting balls this season with an average exit velocity of 97.1 mph, and his maximum so far this season has been 113.1 mph. Judge's hardest-hit ball came off his bat at 116.8 mph, but his average is a shade lower than Anthony's at 95.8 mph
Judge has 20 barreled balls so far in 2025. Anthony has barreled 19.
More MLB: Top Prospect Roman Anthony Homers Again in Minors as Red Sox Offense Struggles
In the more conventional stats, Judge is outdoing Anthony, but the Red Sox prospect at least holds his own. Judge has posted an OPS of 1.217. Anthony's stands at 1.038.
So with the Red Sox off to a somewhat sluggish 16-14 start in their first 30 games, why is Anthony still in the minor leagues?
The short-term answer is that Anthony on Friday fouled a ball of of his foot in game against the Syracuse Mets, and was forced to leave the game. The Red Sox later said that X-rays of the foot showed no structural damage and Anthony would not require a stint on the injured list.
He is expected to return to action sometime this week.
But otherwise, Anthony appears to be caught in a numbers game. Anthony is an outfielder, and with Jarren Duran in left for Boston, Ceddanne Rafaela manning centerfield and Gold Glove winner Wilyer Abreu in right — plus Rob Refsnyder as the backup outfielder — Anthony would have nowhere to play.
"Aside from the positional roadblock, there's another reason the Red Sox are playing it cool with Anthony," wrote Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic on Monday. "The Red Sox watched Baltimore promote baseball's top prospect Jackson Holliday last season, a 20-year-old who tore through the minors the previous year, only to see him struggle mightily."
According to McCaffrey, the Red Sox are trying to protect Anthony from the same fate. But that does not mean he will spend the entire season in Worcester. At some point, McCaffrey noted, the Red Sox are all but certain to call up their prized prospect.
When they do, he will need to deal with the pressures of playing big league baseball in Boston for the first time — something no amount of time in the minors could prepare him for.
More MLB: Red Sox Urged to Clear Space for $2.5 Million Top Prospect by Making 'Obvious' Trade
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