Roman Anthony’s Bat Is Starting to Heat Up

It may've been a slow start to his MLB career, but former top prospect Roman Anthony is starting to come into his own as a hitter.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 6: Roman Anthony #19 of the Boston Red Sox warms up before a game against the Kansas City Royals on August 6, 2025 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Before the game, Anthony and the Red Sox agreed to an eight-year contract extension. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 6: Roman Anthony #19 of the Boston Red Sox warms up before a game against the Kansas City Royals on August 6, 2025 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. Before the game, Anthony and the Red Sox agreed to an eight-year contract extension. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

In a busy week in baseball now that the trade deadline has passed and new faces are acclimating to new faces, the storyline that was arguably the largest of week was the massive eight-year $130 million extension the Boston Red Sox handed to their young phenom Roman Anthony on Wednesday.

And the timing of this extension couldn’t have come at a more fitting time for both the Sox and the Anthony.

The Red Sox are putting things together as team right now, establishing themselves as one of the top American League Wild Card contenders. They’ve gone 8-2 in their last 10 and hold the top spot Wild Card spot, sitting 2.5 games up on those on the outside looking in.

While all of this has gone on, Anthony has put together quite the performance in recent weeks at the plate, seemingly erasing what was a lackluster start to his big league career.

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Roman Anthony’s Recent Performance Has Put MLB on Notice

Anthony forced the Red Sox hand to call him up after an exceptional start to the 2025 season in Triple-A Worcester. He’s slashing .288/.423/.491 with 10 HR, 29 RBI and a 145 wRC+ in 265 plate appearances.

With already lofty expectations from a long-standing status of being one of the games brightest prospects, his strong stretch to open the season only raised those expectations.

However, after debuting on June 9 against the Tampa Bay Rays, Anthony got off to quiet the slow start in major leagues, experiencing quite the wake-up call.

In his first nine games (up to June 11) the rookie phenom looked quite mortal, going 2-for-27. Thankfully a homer and four RBI helped sooth struggles a bit in the eyes of Red Sox fans.

This was a microcosm of what was a pretty uninspiring June for the former top prospect in baseball. In 19 games, the 21-year-old slashed just .210/.329/.339 with a one homer, six RBI and an 88 wRC+.

However, as mediocre as he looked through this process of major league acclimation, growing pains is all they seemed to have been, as Anthony has looked sharp since.

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The turning point came in a June 27 contest against the Toronto Blue Jays. In a 9-0 loss, Anthony’s performance seemed as pedestrian as Boston’s entire performance in the loss, with a first inning double all he had to show for the evening.

However, it marked the start of a five game hit-streak where he hit safely in 19 of 22 games.

From June 27 onwards, Anthony was exceptionally great, with a .336 AVG, .914 OPS, 11.4% walk rate and a 155 wRC+.

For context of how well he compared to the rest of the league, he ranked within the Top 10 in baseball in AVG (7th) and OBP (5th) and Top 20 in wRC+ (T-20th) and wOBA (15th).

This was fueled by an exceptionally great month of July, where he slashed .329/.452/.494 with a 165 wRC+ in 104 plate appearances across 24 games.

Not only was he a world class looking major league hitter, he was one of the top hitters in this Red Sox lineup that was instrumental in turning the tide on what could’ve been a sign of waving the white flag after trading a bonafide superstar in Rafael Devers mid-way through June.

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Going back to that timeline from June 27 until now, Anthony’s .336 AVG and .430 OBP led all Red Sox hitters. Then, his 155 wRC+, .401 wOBA and 1.6 fWAR trailed only Jarren Duran during this time.

Then, from an underlying metrics perspective, there’s reason to believe that this pace will continue to be sustainable for Anthony as well.

He’s making quality hard contact, with a 56.6% hard-hit rate and 94.0 mph AVG exit velocity.

While Anthony may be striking out at a high 24.5% clip, but it’s not because he’s chasing at bad pitches out of the zone, as his chase sits at just 19.1%.

Then, there’s certain expected metrics that support the fact that he projects as a sustainably productive hitter. His .265 xBA is nothing spectacular, but it’s a respectable above average mark that’s certainly nothing to shake your head at and pairs particularly nicely with his strong .366 xWOBA.

The fact he’s not just producing well in his rookie campaign, but doing so in crucial spots in lineup is also a huge aspect to just how strong hitter Anthony’s been in 2025. All but 22 of his 199 plate appearances have come from hitting one to three in the lineup.

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The Red Sox will undoubtedly have some decisions to make this offseason when it comes to the outfield, as they are quite crowded at the moment, with Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran all giving them strong starting-level output.

While it’s certainly a matter Craig Breslow and Co. will have to attend to, it’s certainly a great problem to have, because it means that Roman Anthony is living up to his immense prospect pedigree.

The season’s not over yet and Anthony will hopefully be able to add some postseason at-bats to his resume. To do so though, he’ll need to continue to be a staple in the Red Sox lineup to keep them in the postseason hunt.

Fortunately though, for both him and Boston, all signs seem to point to Anthony being the real deal.