The beautiful unpredictability of pro sports means that even when we’re positive that a certain young player is going to be a star, we never quite know when it’s going to happen, nor how high that star’s ceiling will ultimately reach. This is a scenario the Boston Red Sox have experienced vividly in 2025.
Boston’s trio of All-Stars deserve a boatload of credit for the team’s success this season. Garrett Crochet has been exactly the ace he was brought in to be. Alex Bregman, though currently ice cold, has had a good year overall and has impacted Boston’s clubhouse in so many winning ways that go beyond his individual production. Aroldis Chapman has been unthinkably unstoppable.
And yet, somehow it feels like none of those three guys are more valuable to the current Red Sox than 21-year-old rookie Roman Anthony, who in just 71 MLB games so far has already separated himself as one of the most respected bats in the league.
Anthony’s absence from the lineup has been disastrous, to say the least. It’s not just his numbers that Boston is missing, either. Just like with Bregman, there’s something intangible that Anthony provided the Red Sox clubhouse. But while Bregman brings leadership, experience, confidence, and calm, Anthony supplies other ingredients that the Red Sox are sorely lacking right now: swagger, electricity, energy, and most of all, the incredible excitement of seemingly limitless talent.
With a guy like Bregman, as tremendous as he is, we more or less know what we’re getting, as he’s on the other side of 30.
With Anthony, we still don’t know if this isn’t going to be literally the best player in baseball. The sheer joy and positive buzz associated with that mystery is what made watching the Red Sox so awesome when Anthony was healthy. It’s also not a stretch to say that it made playing for the team a lot more fun, too.
Boston had more of a pep in its step with Anthony in the lineup. Oh, and by the way, the Red Sox also won way more with Anthony than without him.
After Thursday’s loss to the Athletics, Boston was 37-43 on the season without Anthony, and 46-27 with him.
That’s the kind of massive difference that separates playoff teams from non-playoff teams.
People will hesitate to crown Anthony the most valuable player on the Red Sox, either due to his age or limited games played. But it’s awfully hard to give anyone else that title, considering how the season has played out.
