Craig Breslow shuts down Roman Anthony to first base speculation

Red Sox

“I think just given [Anthony’s] age, there’s still an opportunity for him to develop in the outfield.”

The Red Sox don’t appear to be in a rush to promote baseball’s No. 2 prospect Roman Anthony to Boston.

The team doesn’t plan on changing the 20-year-old’s position while he’s in the minor leagues, either.

Anthony, an outfielder, has never played the infield in the Red Sox organization since being drafted in 2022. But a post on X by 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Tony Massarotti last month stirred the pot by saying he should.

“If I’m the Red Sox, I start playing Roman Anthony at first base in Worcester,” the “Felger and Mazz” co-host said on April 8.

Massarotti’s idea came in response to current Boston first baseman Triston Casas struggling at the plate to start the season. Entering Friday, Casas still has yet to get his bat going, as he’s averaging .184 with a .585 OPS through 28 games.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow isn’t entertaining Massarotti’s idea, which has been discussed at length online.

“I think just given [Anthony’s] age, there’s still an opportunity for him to develop in the outfield. Until you feel like that’s in a place where there isn’t just a massive opportunity cost to taking reps away, that’s where he should be focused,” Breslow told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “And also, I think obviously, at some point he’s going to be impacting our major league team, and to throw another variable into the mix probably doesn’t make a ton of sense when that transition in and of itself can be difficult at times.

“So, try to simplify, try to keep him where he’s comfortable. And if that’s a conversation we need to have 10 years from now, then great.”

Massarotti also suggested in March that Boston should make Anthony a designated hitter, citing concerns about his fielding.

Through 16 total games at all three outfield positions, Anthony has yet to make an error. He boasts a .982 career minor league fielding percentage in left field, .979 in center, and .978 in right.

The Red Sox have never been shy about experimenting with their players at different positions. Most recently, Boston has played rookie sensation Kristian Campbell in center field in several games this season, despite him primarily playing second base in the minors last year.

The organization doesn’t seem to be keen on trying Anthony out elsewhere on the diamond. He hasn’t proven to be an above-average defender at this point in his career, but that’s no reason to completely remove him from the outfield.

Anthony’s Triple-A manager, the WooSox’s Chad Tracy, feels similarly to Breslow regarding the first base dialogue surrounding his player.

“We’re not putting him at first base. No,” Tracy said last month. “There has been no conversation about putting him at first. We’re getting him ready to play left field.”