Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox's Previously Unheralded Slugger Flying Up Prospect Rankings

Boston has another promising young talent rising up boards

Scott Neville

Red Sox's Previously Unheralded Slugger Flying Up Prospect Rankings
Red Sox's Previously Unheralded Slugger Flying Up Prospect Rankings /
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The Boston Red Sox only had one true top prospect for the first half of the season -- shortstop Marcelo Mayer -- according to the consensus of analysts, until now.

Earlier in the week Baseball Prospectus made waves when they ranked Red Sox outfielder prospect Roman Anthony as the No. 9 prospect in the league, one spot ahead of Mayer. 

The report was followed by tons of praise but many in the know acknowledged that the ranking was a little too high and Mayer remains the most exciting minor leaguer in the organization.

Now a site with a much higher pedigree is jumping in on the Anthony hype, providing a much more reasonable take.

Baseball America has ranked Anthony as the No. 35 prospect in the league in their post-draft top-100. 

Anthony joins Mayer (No. 8) and Miguel Bleis (No. 88) as Red Sox representatives on the list. 

The 19-year-old entered High-A Greenville as the youngest player in the league and has absolutely torched opposing pitching. Anthony is hitting .362 with 13 extra-base hits including seven home runs, 17 RBIs and a 1.331 OPS in 16 games since his promotion. 

While his current hot streak is unsustainable, he's proven to have the exit velocity needed for a successful career and has not let the more advanced pitching overmatch him. 

Anthony was a second-round pick in the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft and appears to be reaching his potential early on. He's entering the "untouchable" category as the trade deadline nears and could join a cluster of Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke, Ceddanne Rafaela and Blaze Jordan as top prospects set to debut in the 2024/2025 range. 

More MLB: Ex-Red Sox Flamethrower Released By Reds As Tumultuous Season Continues

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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