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FORT MYERS, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 19: Roman Anthony #48 of the Boston Red Sox looks on during a Spring Training workout at JetBlue Park at Fenway South on February 19, 2025 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Red Sox To Extend Rookie Star Roman Anthony

Originally posted on Just Baseball | By Leo Morgenstern | Last updated Aug 6, 2025 4:56 PM ET

It wasn’t long ago that Roman Anthony was Just Baseball’s no. 1 overall prospect. Now, he’s thriving for the Red Sox at the big league level.

The 21-year-old took a little time to find his footing in June, but over the past six weeks, he’s blossomed into one of the best hitters in the league. He’s now batting .283 with an .828 OPS and a 133 wRC+ on the season.

Combine that with his good speed and Gold Glove-caliber defense (5 DRS, 4 OAA), and it’s not hard to see why Boston didn’t want to wait a second longer to lock him up for the rest of his 20s.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that Anthony and the Red Sox are nearing an agreement on an eight-year, $130 million contract extension. Should the two sides finalize the deal, it will kick in next season and run through 2033. Boston will also have a team option for 2034, while escalators could bring Anthony’s total earnings up as high as $230 million.

If Anthony finishes in the top two in AL Rookie of the Year voting this year (and therefore earns an extra year of service time), this deal will buy out his first four years of free agency.

Perhaps the best comparison for Anthony’s contract is the pace Jackson Merrill signed with the Padres earlier this year. The two deals are similar in terms of both deals and dollars.

However, Merrill’s is a nine-year, $135 million guarantee (with a club option for a 10th season) that can max out at $204 million. That means Merrill gave up an extra year of control for only $5 million more in guaranteed cash. In addition, the maximum value of his contract is $26 million lower.

All that, even though Merrill had already completed his first full season and earned an All-Star selection and a Silver Slugger Award by the time he inked his extension.

This goes to show how highly the Red Sox value Anthony. It took fewer than 50 games for him to secure a better contract than last year’s NL Rookie of the Year runner-up.

Anthony is the third core piece that Boston has extended this year, joining fellow rookie Kristian Campbell and staff ace Garrett Crochet. The team also extended center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and starter Brayan Bello in 2024.

Candidates for future extensions include outfielders Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, catcher Carlos Narváez, and (perhaps) star third baseman Alex Bregman, who can opt out of his contract at the end of the season.

Marcelo Mayer could also join his fellow former top prospects Anthony and Campbell in the extension club, but he’s currently on the IL with a sprained wrist and certainly hasn’t earned an extension with his performance to date.

All that to say, even after they traded away Rafael Devers earlier this year, the Red Sox still have a talented core to keep building around for years to come.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t do much to help that core at the trade deadline last week, but the team has continued to play well – they’ve now won seven straight.

Breslow must be hoping that extending Roman Anthony will buy back some faith from the fanbase that he lost at the deadline. The better Anthony plays and the better the Red Sox perform over the rest of the season, the more true that will be.

This article first appeared on Just Baseball and was syndicated with permission.

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