Roman Anthony’s 497-foot grand slam — the longest home run tracked by Statcast so far in 2025 (majors and minors) — intensified the already loud calls from media and fans for the Red Sox to promote the 21-year-old.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal wrote Sunday morning that Anthony, Baseball America’s No. 1 prospect, shouldn’t spend one more day in the minors. Later that day, manager Alex Cora got peppered with questions about when Anthony might be called up.
Reporters and fans also closely monitored Triple-A Worcester’s lineup daily the past few weeks to see if Anthony was playing. He wasn’t in the lineup this past Friday for the first time in 33 games, causing a stir on social media before the WooSox sent out a statement confirming it was only a day off for him and he wasn’t being promoted.
The 21-year-old’s call-up finally happened Monday. And Anthony received a standing ovation from Red Sox fans when he stepped to the plate for his first major league at-bat. Fans also stood for Marcelo Mayer — Baseball America’s No. 7 ranked prospect — during his first big league at-bat May 24.
The excitement level was off the charts. Now that it’s over, who will be the next Red Sox prospect to draw this level of madness when he’s close to being ready for the majors?
Let’s be clear, Anthony is baseball’s No. 1 prospect. He’s considered a prospect with generational talent potential. It’s not likely anything will rise to this level until Boston has another No. 1.
But who could come close?
1. Jhostynxon Garcia
Garcia — better known by his nickname “The Password” — spoke realistically during spring training when he was asked his timeline goal to make his MLB debut.
“My goal is ultimately to have at least a couple games toward the end of the year in the big leagues,” Garcia said.
The 22-year-old has dominated Triple-A pitching since his promotion from Portland to Worcester on May 20. He entered Tuesday batting .353 with a .380 on-base percentage, .618 slugging percentage, .998 OPS, four homers, four doubles, one triple, 10 RBIs, 11 runs, three walks and 15 strikeouts in 16 games (71 plate appearances).
Garcia is now No. 46 on Keith Law’s Top 50 and No. 99 on Baseball America’s Top 100 after starting the year unranked on both lists.
He’s already popular among Red Sox fans simply because of his cool nickname, which recently appeared as a clue on Jeopardy! He should continue to rise up prospect rankings because of his combination of power and improved plate discipline.
There are still areas in his game that need to get better before he’s ready to play in Boston. The other question is a path to everyday playing time once he is ready.
The Red Sox already have four talented young outfielders in Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu in the majors ahead of him (Abreu is on the 10-day IL right now).
2. Franklin Arias
Arias is Boston’s top prospect still in the minors now that Kristian Campbell, Anthony and Mayer are all in the big leagues.
He’s only 19 and entered Tuesday batting .353 with a .392 on-base percentage, .519 slugging percentage, .911 OPS, three homers, 11 doubles, one triple, 25 RBIs, 15 runs, nine walks and 11 strikeouts in 31 games (143 plate appearances) since his promotion to High-A Greenville.
His ability to hit for a high batting average and play plus defense at shortstop could make him a consensus Top 5 or 10 MLB prospect within the next year, especially if he starts hitting for a little more power.
Law recently ranked Arias No. 8 on his Top 50. Baseball America has him at No. 65.
As Law pointed out, Arias does have a high groundball percentage (49.2% at High A) and one of his development goals is to hit the ball in the air more often.
“Getting the ball in the air and getting his point of contact a little bit further out in front,” Greenville hitting coach JP Fasone said recently. “He’s really good at letting the ball travel and taking his hits. But I think there’s more opportunities for him to kind of catch the ball out in front, hit the ball in the air a little bit more and pull it a little bit more. He tends to miss some pitches early in the count. I think as he continues to improve those pitches will get hit.”
He could quickly become a fan favorite because he’s an exciting player both on offense and defense.
3. Payton Tolle
There should be a great deal of excitement when Tolle eventually makes his MLB debut because he’s built like a workhorse, throws hard and strikes out a ton of batters.
The 6-foot-6, 270-pounder already has made big gains with his velocity (up to 98 mph as SoxProspects.com’s Ian Cundall and Chris Clegg have noted in recent starts in May).
His fastball typically sat in the low-90s at TCU before Boston drafted him in the second round last year.
The Red Sox have sort of reinvented him with more velocity and a different pitch mix that includes a sweeper he began working on in Fort Myers right after he signed with them last summer.
It’s not surprising he has struck out 37.8% of the batters he has faced this year. Not only does he throw hard but he gets well above average extension so his fastball can look even faster.
