The Boston Red Sox are going to be under a lot of pressure over the next couple of years to extend rookie star Roman Anthony.
Anthony, 21, is still considered the number-one prospect in baseball. He could become a superstar, but Red Sox fans are also wary of their team’s commitment to keeping their homegrown stars in town, thanks to the Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers trades.
However, extensions have been a theme for the Red Sox this year. They inked Kristian Campbell (eight years, $60 million) and Garrett Crochet (six years, $170 million) to long-term commitments in April.
So as he’s begun to get comfortable in the big leagues, has Anthony heard anything from the Red Sox about a possible extension? Is it even something on his mind?
“No, not at all. I haven’t heard a peep from anyone about anything,” Anthony said, per Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald.
“I think right now the goal is pretty clear for me, it’s to worry about showing up every day and doing what I have to do here in order to help this team win. There haven’t been any talks of that and I think credit to the Red Sox for kind of letting me go out and play, but no, there hasn’t been anything.”
Anthony’s at-bats have looked brilliant all throughout his young career, and this weekend, the results finally began to follow. He put up back-to-back multi-hit games against the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend, boosting his OPS by over 100 points (.667 through three at-bats on Sunday).
Although he might think it’s too early to concern himself with the possibility of an extension, Anthony can envision himself in Boston long-term if the stars align.
“I think it’s a matter of how it looks and how it works on both ends, but obviously for me and my family and my agency, knowing this is a place I came up through and yeah, I would love to play here for sure,” Anthony said, per Cerullo. “But at the same time understanding and trusting who I am as a baseball player and how much I believe in myself.
“But yeah, obviously I’d be open to that but as far as numbers or anything like that, I don’t really know, I don’t know where we’re at. Like I said, I’m focused on finishing this year out and continuing to learn and get better every day, and we’ll go from there.”
Until a deal gets done, Red Sox fans will have their guard up.
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