Red Sox No. 1 Prospect Roman Anthony Gets New MLB Debut Prediction

It's the question on every Boston Red Sox fan's mind right now: When will superstar outfield prospect Roman Anthony make his debut in the big leagues?

Anthony, 20, is the consensus number-one prospect currently in the minors. He's shot through the Red Sox farm system since he was drafted in 2023, and he's been tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A to begin the season.

With a 1.000 OPS through 16 games, it's clear that Anthony's bat is ready for the majors. But he's dealing with a minor shoulder injury, which kept him out of the outfield this week. The Red Sox are going to have to strip one of their outfielders of playing time when he arrives, so they can reasonably say they want to hold him in Triple-A until they're 100 percent confident in his defense.

On top of that, the Red Sox would play a dangerous game if they call Anthony up soon. If he finished first or second in Rookie of the Year voting, he'd be granted a full year of service time, and the Red Sox would lose club control over him for his age-27 season.

With those circumstances in mind, NESN's Keagan Stiefel made a prediction on Friday: Anthony won't be up in the majors until late May at the earliest.

"The club would lose a year on his arbitration if the 20-year-old won 2025 American League Rookie of the Year," Stiefel wrote. "It’s not exactly crazy to think Anthony would be in contention if promoted, so the smartest thing to do in their current state is to wait things out — for that reason, and a few more.

"It’s extremely unlikely that he debuts anytime soon, so just keep those thoughts on standby until Anthony falls out of contention for individual awards and back into contention for the call. It’s looking like late May or early June, folks."

There has been some consternation among fans about Anthony remaining in the minors while the Red Sox offense, particularly starting center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, has struggled. But Rafaela hit his first home run of the season on Friday, which was a reminder that overreacting to a small sample size is always a peril of the month of April.

Of course, Anthony could still replace Rafaela on a full-time basis at any point. But Stiefel's logic is sound: as long as Boston isn't completely desperate for Anthony's bat, they can afford to keep playing the waiting game.