Red Sox Rising Superstar Prospect Predicted To Make Opening Day Roster

The future is now?

Sep 20, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A detail view of Boston Red Sox hats and gloves at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-Imagn Images / Kim Klement-Imagn Images

Tough decisions are coming for the Boston Red Sox, many of which are being forced upon them by their youngest stars.

For years now, the Red Sox have been gassing the fan base up about the talent rising through the farm system. Boston steadily climbed the ranks of top prospect lists and now, they're widely regarded as one of the deepest and most talented farm systems in Major League Baseball.

Many of those prospects, though, won't be prospects for much longer. They've risen to the brink of the big leagues and the Red Sox will have to make the call on when to give them their shot. And perhaps at the front of the line is outfield star Roman Anthony.

Anthony has ripped his way through the minor leagues and recently earned a number-one overall prospect ranking from Baseball America. He has superstar potential, and it seems he may get to showcase that potential at Fenway Park soon enough.

On Wednesday, Chris Cotillo of MassLive predicted that Anthony would make the Red Sox's roster right out of Spring Training... and also that the club would make another enormous move to find him a starting spot.

"The Red Sox don’t consider any of their top prospects untouchable but (Anthony is) probably close, even as the club’s search for an ace will dominate the winter," Cotillo said. "The prediction here is that the Red Sox... install Anthony as part of their Opening Day lineup and make the extremely tough call to move either Abreu or Duran."

Still just 20 years old, Anthony flew through the minor leagues with fantastic seasons in 2022 and 2023. He was named a Double-A All-Star this season and played his last 35 games in Triple-A with a dominant .982 OPS.

Trading either Abreu or Duran would be a huge gamble from the Red Sox, but perhaps it's the move that needs to be made to shore up other parts of the roster. If Anthony is everything Boston believes he can be, they won't need too many cooks in the kitchen.

It's clear from everything he's done to this point that Anthony has the tools to be a special big-leaguer. But nothing is ever certain until a player gets his feet wet, and Anthony's moment of truth is likely coming very soon.

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