Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. You have to stop what you’re doing right now and watch this catch by Denzel Clarke.
In today’s SI:AM:
⚾ Boston’s latest phenom
🏒 Panthers win a chippy one
⛳ What’s wrong with Rory?
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The gang’s all here
The Boston Red Sox are bringing up reinforcements in an attempt to turn their season around as they continue to fall farther out of playoff contention.
Boston promoted outfielder Roman Anthony to the majors on Monday, and he made his big league debut in the team’s 10–8 home loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. He played right field, batted fifth and went 0-for-4 with an RBI groundout. He was pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 11th inning, as manager Alex Cora brought in the right-handed hitting Rob Refsnyder to face lefty reliever Ian Seymour.
Anthony is currently the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball, having begun the season at No. 2 behind Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki, who has since exhausted his rookie eligibility and graduated from prospect status. He was selected in the second round of the 2022 draft out of high school and progressed quickly through the minor leagues, reaching Double A in just his second pro season. He led the Double A Eastern League with a .489 slugging percentage and .856 OPS in 84 games last season, then proceeded to mash even more after a late-season promotion to Triple A. He had a bonkers .344/.463/.519 slash line in 35 games last season with Boston’s top affiliate.
Anthony’s best asset is his bat, but he’s a well-rounded player with no significant drawbacks. He’s regarded as an average baserunner and a decent fielder with a slightly above-average arm. He played primarily center field as a minor leaguer, but the belief is that the additional muscle he’s added in recent years will make him a better fit as a corner outfielder in the big leagues. The Red Sox don’t need a center fielder anyway. They’ve already got All-Star Jarren Duran and defensive wiz Ceddanne Rafaela on the roster.
The Red Sox began this season with three mega prospects on the verge of making their big league debuts: Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer. All three were ranked among the top 15 prospects in all of baseball by multiple outlets. Campbell made the Opening Day roster as the starting second baseman, Mayer made his debut on May 24 and now Anthony has joined them to complete the trio.
The presence of those three young position players was a major reason why the Red Sox had high hopes entering this season. With Anthony, Campbell and Mayer poised to join a lineup that already included Duran, Rafael Devers and Triston Casas, and a revamped pitching staff that now includes Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler, the Red Sox seemed positioned to challenge for the AL East crown. The preseason playoff odds at Fangraphs gave them the sixth-best chance of winning the World Series.
But Boston has hovered around .500 all season long, and the team is currently in the midst of a 5–10 stretch that has dropped its record to 32–36. The Sox had been in second place in the division before this current cold streak and now have fallen into fourth. They’re currently nine games behind the first-place New York Yankees and 4.5 games out of the third and final AL wild-card spot. But they’re not totally dead yet. Fangraphs gives them a 15.4% chance of making the playoffs.
Boston ranks fifth in the majors with 4.97 runs scored per game, so offense hasn’t been the team’s issue this season. But the Red Sox could still use the help. Big free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman was excellent in his first few months in Boston, until a quad injury sidelined him in late May. There is no timeline for his return, and Cora said over the weekend that he is “still far away” from getting back on the field. The Red Sox were already without their Opening Day first baseman, Casas, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in early May. Pair that with a pitching staff that has the eighth-worst ERA (4.16) in the majors and it’s easy to see why Boston has been so mediocre. At least now with Anthony arriving to join Mayer and Campbell, Red Sox fans can have some hope that things will turn around.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Michael Rosenberg has a word of warning for sports leaders attempting to curry favor with Donald Trump.
- The Florida Panthers took a 2–1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final after beating the Edmonton Oilers, 6–1, in a game that turned ugly in the third period.
- A new head coach, direction, and energy in Las Vegas. In the latest installment of 32 Teams in 32 Days, Gilberto Manzano looks at the Raiders.
- Oakmont, the storied and punishing U.S. Open venue, returns for a record 10th time this week with its signature fast greens, thick rough, and brutal history—promising yet another grueling test where simply surviving might be enough to contend, writes Bob Harig.
- Rory McIlroy is in the middle of a Masters hangover of sorts, writes Bob Harig. What does that mean for this week at the U.S. Open?
- In his second season, Paul Skenes is a marvel to watch every time he takes the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates, writes Tom Verducci.
- Albert Breer details how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers' union became a reality.
- Stanley Cup champion T.J. Oshie is retiring after 16 seasons in the NHL.
- Fever coach Stephanie White provided an update on Caitlin Clark’s progress as she works to return from injury.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. This list of the names of players participating in this year’s Men’s College World Series.
4. Brad Marchand’s opening goal less than a minute into Game 3 after he had the overtime game-winner in Game 2. The Panthers dominated the Oilers in a chippy game to take a 2–1 series lead.
3. Murray State’s celebration after upsetting Duke to clinch a spot in the Men’s College World Series. The Racers are just the fourth No. 4 seed ever to make the CWS.
2. Josh Naylor’s walk-off grand slam for the Diamondbacks.
1. A’s center fielder Denzel Clarke’s stunning home run robbery. This is, with no exaggeration, one of the greatest catches in MLB history.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Scuffling Red Sox Call Up MLB’s No. 1 Prospect, Roman Anthony.
