The top prospect in baseball is here. The Red Sox waited longer than we might have liked, but they finally promoted outfielder Roman Anthony Monday and immediately slotted him into the No. 5 spot in the lineup against righty Shan Baz.
Anthony was hitting .288/.423/.491 at Triple-A before his promotion, showcasing the excellent plate discipline and plus power that has vaulted him to the top of prospect rankings – and what might have sealed the deal for his promotion was a near-500-foot grand slam he hit over the weekend, one of the longest homers of the season at any level.
So, now he’s here, and he’s here to stay … right? I mean, yeah, probably. But the problem for Anthony since the start of the season wasn’t that he wasn’t talented enough to play in the majors; it was a question of whether he was ready to stand out in the Red Sox’s crowded outfield. And, as Scott White wrote Monday in the wake of Anthony’s promotion, that crowded outfield still could prove to be a barrier. The Red Sox have already shown they are willing to sit top prospect Marcelo Mayer against lefties early in his career, potentially prioritizing winning now over Mayer’s long-term development. I’m not saying the same thing will happen to the lefty-swinging Anthony, but I am saying there’s some added pressure on Anthony to make sure he hits the ground running. A slow start could see him stuck in a timeshare in Boston’s outfield – or even possibly demoted if he struggles enough.
To be clear, that’s not necessarily my expectation. I agree with the broad consensus that has Anthony as the top prospect in baseball, and I’ve been there for about a year or so. I’m really excited for him, and I think he has legitimate superstar potential, including for Fantasy. But the transition to the majors is tough and the Red Sox aren’t in a spot where they necessarily need Anthony in the lineup right now. If he hits, he’ll stick around, likely as an everyday player; if he struggles, that’s not necessarily a guarantee.
Of course, Anthony needs to be rostered in all Fantasy leagues, and that’s already more or less true – he is 89% rostered in CBS Fantasy leagues. If he hits the ground running, he could absolutely be a difference-maker as a rookie. That just isn’t a guarantee at this point, and his specific situation in Boston creates more risk than you might typically expect for a prospect of his stature.
Here’s what else you need to know about from Monday’s action around MLB:
Tuesday’s top waiver-wire targets
Chase Burns, SP, Reds (34%) – Mondays are usually one of the lightest days of the week for waiver-wire targets across the majors, so we’re going down to the minors for one of the top targets. Burns is, in my opinion (and I don’t think I’m alone), the best pitching prospect in baseball at this point. Last year’s No. 2 overall pick tore through his first two stops as a professional posting a 1.58 ERA and 38.3% strikeout rate in 11 starts across High-A and Double-A, and the Reds promoted him to Triple-A this weekend. Which means he could be another good couple of starts away from getting the call. The Reds are sitting at .500 with the second-best run differential in the NL Central, but they’ve also got Hunter Greene on the IL, and he’s set to receive a second opinion on his groin and back injuries, which is always concerning. Calling up Burns might be their best (and only) chance to actually make a playoff run, and he might already be ready. His high-90s fastball has the kind of movement profile teams are looking for in the modern game, and he has two different breaking balls that both look like they could be big-time swing-and-miss pitches. I think we’ll see him in Cincy this summer, and at this pace, he might just end up beating Bubba Chandler to the majors.
Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics (72%) – Kurtz’s injury came at an especially bad time, as he was just starting to figure things out, with nine RBI and four homers in his last five games before suffering the injury. His slow start and subsequent injury dropped his roster rate, but all that upside you were getting so excited about is still there, and he made his return from the IL Monday. We should still be extremely excited about Kurtz, and he should still be rostered pretty much everywhere.
Jake Mangum, OF, Rays (18%) – All of a sudden, Mangum is hitting .302/.333/.368 on the season. A 4-for-6 showing Monday helps, but he was hitting .280 even before that, and his 13.4% strikeout rate actually makes it seem somewhat sustainable. Mangum doesn’t have much pop, mostly because he hits the ball on the ground too much, but his solid batting average skills and speed – 10 steals in 31 games – make him a viable option in five-outfielder leagues.
Emmet Sheehan, SP, Dodgers (9%) – Sheehan is nearing a return from Tommy John surgery, and while we didn’t think he was likely to matter at the beginning of the season, now it sure seems like he might have a rotation spot waiting for him whenever he gets back. No pitcher is a sure thing coming back from major elbow surgery, something we’ve seen time and time again this season, and that’s especially true of a young pitcher with no real extended track record of success at the MLB level – Sheehan made 11 starts in 2023 as a rookie and put up a 4.92 ERA. But his stuff looked better than those results might make you think, Island I think there’s real upside here. He doesn’t need to be added in all leagues, but in deeper leagues where you have an IL spot to play with, you could do worse than targeting Sheehan.
Alejandro Kirk, C, Blue Jays (35%) – Kirk is just kind of getting lost in the shuffle amid the slew of young, exciting catchers breaking out this season. But he’s kind of finally becoming the player we hoped he would be. He went 4 for 5 with a homer and a couple of RBI Monday and is now up to a .316 average and .782 OPS on the season. The problem is he just doesn’t hit the ball over the fence very often despite very good exit velocities – Monday’s was just his fourth homer of the season. As a result, Kirk is just eighth at the position in RBI with 29, and he’s only scored 14 runs in 53 games, somehow. In another season, Kirk would be a top-12 catcher with this kind of production, but he’s more of a No. 2 option right now. That should still translate to a higher roster rate than this, but it does limit how high the ceiling can be.
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