Red Sox promote top prospect Roman Anthony from Triple-A Worcester; Abreu headed to the IL, Sox with momentum following series win over Yankees

It’s finally happening; baseball’s top prospect is on his way to the big leagues.

The Red Sox are calling up Roman Anthony from Triple-A Worcester, and he will join the team at Fenway Park for its series with the Rays, as first reported by MassLive’s Chris Smith. Anthony also confirmed the news to MassLive’s Katie Morrison-O’Day that he was on his way to Fenway. He will make his debut on Monday night, batting fifth and will play right field, replacing outfielder Wilyer Abreu, who was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain. To make room for Anthony on the 40-man roster, the Sox designated Ryan Noda for assignment.

Anthony, 21, will be the youngest player to reach the majors for the Red Sox since Rafael Devers was called up as a 20-year-old in 2017. He will be the youngest Red Sox position player draftee to do so since Dwight Evans in 1972.

The consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball has been hitting the cover off the ball for the WooSox this season. Anthony slashed .290/.421/.595 with 10 homers, nine doubles, two triples, 29 RBI, three stolen bases, and a .914 OPS in 57 games for Worcester.

The young slugger has been hammering baseballs, including an epic 497-foot grand slam on Saturday night, the longest blast in Triple-A this season. He put the WooSox ahead 9-4 with his massive blast that left his bat at 115.6 mph and went deep over the wall in right-center field.

"Got it and didn't really miss it," Anthony said to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette” following the game. "So, it felt great."

The Red Sox drafted Anthony as a compensation pick in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft. Anthony becomes the final member of Boston’s “Big Three” prospect trio to reach the majors. Rookie Kristian Campbell made the team out of spring training, and Marcelo Mayer was promoted after Alex Bregman went down with a serious right quad injury.

Mayer, one of Anthony’s close friends, was excited to learn that the outfielder was being promoted earlier this afternoon.

“It has been a long time coming,” Mayer said to MassLive this afternoon. “It has been talked about for a very long time. It’s kind of crazy; today’s the day we’re all going to share the field together in the big leagues. I’m super excited. I think we have a really good team, and he’s just another addition.”

“I actually heard through the grapevine here, so right when I heard, I shot him a text and called him,” Mayer said. Just expressed how excited I was for him."

With the addition of Anthony to the Red Sox outfield, the Sox will have Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Rob Refsnyder in the short term. Once Abreu is back from the IL, it’ll be interesting to see how the Red Sox shuffle things around.

Anthony has played 243 innings in left field for the WooSox this season and 89 1/3 innings in center field. He has not seen time in right field in front of the Worcester Wall but should see time there with Abreu on the shelf. 

MORE ON ABREU

Boston is placing Abreu on the IL after he tweaked his left oblique during the weekend series with the Yankees.

“It feels like people saw it on TV. I did not,” Cora said. “Then yesterday, there was a fly ball he hit to center. I saw him running to first and was like, ’There’s something going on here.’ (Head athletic trainer Brandon Henry) came over and talked to me about it. He got treatment after the game and got treatment today. We hope it’s not a while. We’ll get more details later on. But I think it makes sense to put him on the IL.”

Abreu’s oblique injury got worse on Saturday, prompting the Sox to decide whether to add Anthony from Triple-A Worcester.

“This was more about Willy,” Cora said. “We talked about it last night, where he was, probably missing one day or two. But we cannot play shorthanded for an extended period of time. It felt that way. We talked about it today, and this is the decision we made as an organization.”

Losing Abreu is a blow for the Sox, not only for his elite Gold Glove defense in right field, but also because he’s been one of the Red Sox' best bats this season. He has hit .245 with 13 homers, eight doubles, and 32 RBI, with a .792 OPS in 64 games.

“Today, it made sense to (Anthony) him in right field,” Cora said. “Jarren has done an amazing job in left field with the wall. Ceddanne is the top defender in center field. He was actually playing right today. We’ll make adjustments on the fly, but we’ll play him.”

RED SOX TAKE TWO OF THREE FROM YANKEES

The Red Sox needed a big series against the Yankees in the Bronx this past weekend, and they delivered. Boston took two of three from the Yankees, including an 11-7 win in the series finale off five homers.

“They’re all big (wins),” manager Alex Cora said last week. “But it starts in New York. We’ve just got to go over there and win the series.”

The Sox also got a strong pitching performance from rookie Hunter Dobbins, who made his first start against the Yankees in front of a hostile Yankees crowd. The 25-year-old tossed five innings, allowing three runs off four hits with no walks. He did give up a big 436-foot homer to Aaron Judge before recording an out in the first inning.

“Judge is one of the best hitters of our generation,” Dobbins said. “I left a pitch up. He made a good swing. I knew that was just one pitch. So you just kind of get back up there. You kept rolling. But as a starting pitcher, they need you to keep going. So you just kinda reset and go.”

Dobbins had circled this potential start on his calendar, telling the Boston Herald that he’d rather retire than pitch for the Yankees.

‘A lot of fun," Dobbins said. “Great environment. Dad, diehard Red Sox fan growing up. You look forward to it and you get drafted by the Red Sox. You always look forward to pitching in the rivalry. So being able to get out there, get a win, offense having my back, it was a lot of fun.”

DEVERS MAKES TEAM HISTORY

Devers continued to swing a hot bat, particularly against the Yankees, belting his 30th career homer versus New York. Devers made some team history in the process, hitting 30 homers in 116 games versus the Yankees, which is fewer than David Ortiz (125), Jim Rice (144), and Ted Williams (146). Devers has slashed .272/.349/.535 over those games.

Devers' homer came after he failed to run out a slow grounder in the sixth inning of Sunday’s game that he could have easily beaten out. The Sox’ DH slowed down as Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu tossed to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt for the final out of a five-run inning.

Reporters asked Cora if it was due to a lack of hustle or something else.

“It wasn’t lack of hustle,” Cora said. “We talk about it. If he needs a blow, he needs a blow,” Cora said when asked about Devers potentially grimacing. “The next one I told him to go hit it out of the ballpark and jog.”

Devers is batting .283 with 14 homers, 18 doubles, and 57 RBI, with a .929 OPS this season.

TREVOR STORY TURNAROUND?

Trevor Story is heating up. Over his last seven games, the slumping shortstop is hitting .320 with one homer, nine RBI, three walks, with a .520 slugging percentage. This included a big weekend in the Bronx, where Story was a force at the plate, going 3-for-5 on Saturday night with five RBI, powering the Sox’ offense to a 10-7 win.

Story connected for a three-run double in the third inning, lacing a ball down the third base line. In the ninth inning with Boston up a run, Story delivered again. He drove in two more runs with a single, giving the Red Sox a cushion heading into the home half of the ninth.

“It felt good,” said Story. “So credit to the guys getting on base ahead of me, putting together really good at-bats against some good pitchers.

“It always feels good to come through with men on base. And I feel like that's what we've been missing a little bit lately. It was nice to do it tonight.”

CROCHET FIRST OUTING VS. YANKEES

In the first of many matchups with Garrett Crochet leading the Red Sox rotation, the lefty faced the Yankees. Despite not being at his best, he managed to lead the Sox to victory in Saturday's game, which came just a night after New York's offense severely battered Walker Buehler.

Crochet allowed six hits and five runs, walking one and striking out nine. The line was better than it looked, with the Sox making two defensive misplays that were not scored as errors but ultimately led to two hits and at least two runs.

“He gave us what we needed,” Cora said of Crochet. “Forget the line. There were some plays defensively that we didn't make that put him in a bad spot. We needed six, regardless. I mean, we’ll take it.”

The Sox offense put Crochet on their back, pounding out 14 hits in the win.

“Yeah, it was cool,” said Crochet. “Outside of three, four pitches, I felt like my line didn't reflect how I threw the ball tonight. I got my feet wet in the first rivalry game I've been a part of.”

Crochet struck out Judge three times.

“Just had his number today, that’s all,” said Crochet.

Crochet has 32 strikeouts in his past three starts. At 25 years and 351 days, he is the youngest Boston pitcher with 30-plus strikeouts in a three-outing span since Jon Lester in 2009, according to the team.

“I felt like I threw the ball pretty well today,” Crochet said. “I know I gave up five earned, but I kept the ball on the ground. I could do a better job at finishing lefties once I'm ahead. But outside of that, in my mind, it was a good start.”

RED SOX INJURY UPDATES

• Tanner Houck has been out of action since May 14 with a right flexor pronator strain and threw a bullpen on Saturday and is expected to throw another during the week. 

Houck has been a massive disappointment out of the Sox’ rotation, recording a 8.04 ERA (43 2/3 innings) in nine starts. 

Cora doesn’t think Houck’s recovery is going slow. 

“When you go on the IL, you never know. I’m not saying this is the case but when they (trainers) start working on you, they feel like it’s more time than in the beginning or less time,” Cora said. “So I leave it up to them to see where we’re at but we just gotta be patient."

• Justin Slaten, who the Red Sox placed on the 15-day IL on June 1 with right shoulder inflammation, has also not yet started to throw. 
• Alex Bregman said that his strained right quad “feels good.” 

"The progression is going well. Let’s see how he feels tomorrow and then we’ll go from there. Obviously we’re still far away from starting the baseball progression," Cora said.

• Kutter Crawford (wrist) was expected to throw a bullpen this weekend but that has been delayed after he was dealing with wrist pain. He should throw one this week.