When Could Star Red Sox Prospect Roman Anthony Make MLB Debut

There’s not a more highly rated prospect in all of baseball than Roman Anthony.

The star-studded Boston Red Sox prospect was moved to the very top of Baseball America’s prospect rankings Wednesday. That certainly generated even more buzz around the 20-year-old outfielder, who was called up to Triple-A Worcester exactly one month ago.

But even though Anthony just got the No. 1 overall prospect label, the question now is when will he ditch it and join the Red Sox?

George Balekji and Annabelle Hasselbeck discussed Thursday on NESN’s “Boston Has Entered The Chat” podcast when Anthony could put on a Red Sox uniform for the first time and make his MLB debut.

“He could be up in the bigs before he’s 21. We’ll see,” Balekji said. “I mean, his ETA when you look at certain prospect websites, they have him 2025, but it varies from like early to late. Some guys were expected to arrive this season, they didn’t. Whenever you get him, you just want the timing to be right. It’s just big news for the Red Sox.”

Anthony doesn’t turn 21 until May 13 of next year, so the Red Sox could theoretically leave him off the Opening Day roster in 2025 before gifting him a birthday present as an early-season call up.

But it feels safe to say that Anthony will be with the Red Sox at some point next season. He is tearing it up in 26 games with Worcester, batting a robust .337 with three home runs, 14 RBIs and three stolen bases. He also has walked 16 times and struck out 23 times.

The only issue for the Red Sox in promoting Anthony to the major leagues is finding room for him in the outfield. Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu presumably will hold down two of the three spots next season and if Tyler O’Neill, who is a pending free agent, comes back, there won’t be an open spot in the outfield for Anthony.

You can catch all episodes of the “Boston Has Entered The Chat” podcast on YouTube and Spotify.