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BREAKING: Red Sox promote Roman Anthony | Hot Sheet · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Boston Red Sox are calling up Roman Anthony Christopher
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Smith saying that a source told him that is the case,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: seeing some rumblings from some other writers as well. Big
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: smile on Jeff's face. What do you have for us? Man?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: It's just hilarious that we're on air as this happens.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: It's like we're wrapping up the interview with Brody, one
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: of my favorite pitching prospects in the game, and I'm
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: like like looking at my phone, like asking questions, like
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: as Roman Anthony is getting called up, So it looks
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: like this is probably going to be official. I heard
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: of Bray you was injured. I don't know. I mean,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: what else can we say at this point, We've been
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: waiting for this to happen, seemingly since before the season
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: even started. Just continues to dominate in Triple A. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's hyperbole either. One of the best
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: hitters at the level, regardless of age. There's a lot
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: of former Major leaguers at that level. Five hundred foot
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: home run, showing off the power, doing you know, heroic
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: type of stuff. So, you know, just talking to some
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: of the folks within the organization over the last couple
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: of weeks is I think this has kind of been
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: bubbling and boiling over. They think he's an impact player,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and I tend to agree. I think this is a
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: guy that's going to come up and you know, will
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: be one of the few hitters over the last few
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: years that doesn't have those initial struggles. We'll see, you know,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I may have to eat these words, but truthfully, I
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: think the bats of ball skills, the power, the approach
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: just so Outlie you can do a lot of things
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: to the plate that most guys can't.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: He's twenty one years old, Jeff, and yes, people are excited,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: as they should be for the top position player prospect
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: who also was leading minor league baseball and average exit velocity.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: So what do you think could hold him back?
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are expecting him to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: have a lot of success early on. The on base
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: percentage that he's putting together down there is also pretty promising.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: I think the strikeout to walk numbers add up to
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: someone who you would hope would be able to convert
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: right into a major league ballplayer with a nice played approach.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: But again, I'll cap this with what I started it with.
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  Speaker 1: He's twenty one years old. He's going up to the
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: show best pitchers in the world. Minor league's two Major
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: league jump is as wide of a gap as maybe
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: we've ever seen in terms of talent level. What could
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: hold him back?
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I think it's, you know, ultimately probably going to be
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: you know, quality of stuff that he hasn't seen before.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I don't worry about the velocity. This is a guy
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: that just murders fastballs like that's that's not a concern
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: of mine. Could the ground ball rate be a little
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: bit high because the angles aren't always perfect, Sure, But
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I think we see a lot of guys like this.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: James Wood is like that, Junior Camon Narrow is like that.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: These guys with super high end evs tend to top
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: spin some stuff more often than not. Right, But they're
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: also guys that hit the ball so hard sometimes when
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: they mishit it it turns into production. So I think
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: the concern probably would be like quality breaking balls from
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: left handers and just different looks that he hasn't seen consistently,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: even at Triple A. But I don't know. I tend
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to look at a player like this and I think
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: in the same way that Gunnar Henderson checked all the
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: boxes in the same way that Julio Rodriguez or Bobby
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Witt Junior or these kind of guys, whether it's you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: just the eye test or the underlying data or the performance,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: they kind of check all of them. So I would
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: be really shocked if he struggles. But if it happens,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: it's going to because he has to make an adjustment
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: just to certain areas that they're going to be pitching him.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: I've heard left on left breaking balls away, but that
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: seems like such a very specific thing that everyone's gonna
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: have to be able to do, and not everyone's left handed.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, that's not gonna be the poison that's going
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to get him. Oh there's left on left breakers twenty
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: four to seven. But I do remember, you know, I'm
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: looking back to late April when the Red Sox, I
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: don't remember who it was, someone in the front office
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: was talking about it, maybe Brian Abraham, and yeah, that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: they wanted to see him face more left handed pitching
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: makes sense for most prospects, especially those that are that young,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and also that they did want to see him unleash
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: even more of the pull power that he has. Jeff,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: you follow this team closely. They have a very specific
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: way of developing position players right now. That really worked
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: for Christian Campbell for him to turn into a pretty
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: highly rated prospect and a major leaguer. And of course
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: he's gone through his struggles over the past month. But
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: somebody who I think has exceeded expectations so far if
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: you told him a couple of years ago where he
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: would be right now, can you describe what that is,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: how that's working for some of the Red Sox players,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: because I think Roman Anthony did go through some revamped
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: swing situations as well.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Right yeah, I think you know, there's bits and pieces
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: with all these position players that are sort of coming
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: through the pipeline over the last couple of years that
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: have gone through sort of this bat speed train hitting
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: training that they've been doing. It's consistent at all levels.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: We've talked a little bit in the off season. I
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: rode a little bit in the off season of they're
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: used to technology, whether it's the trajet machines to really
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: challenge these guys from the minute they step foot into
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  Speaker 2: sort of their major league training camps after being drafted
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: or signing or coming stateside. You know, all the way
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: through at all these different levels, and you know, the
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: off the field work is really intense and really specific
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: and rigid and you know, focused, And I think that's
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: one of the reasons that we're starting to see so
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: many guys make a significant jump. And it's it's not
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: just Roman Anthony. We've seen Marcela Meyer, who was a
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: very gifted prep hitter when he was drafted, somebody that
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you know, had a beautiful left handed swing, nobody questioned
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: that he would hit. We've seen him add significant impact
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: over the last couple of years. Franklin Arius is, depending
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: on you know, which site you read or who you
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: talk to, is one of the top prospects in baseball
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: at least probably a top one hundred prospect consistently across
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: the board. Another guy who's you know, grown by leaps
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: and bounds over the last couple of years. And you
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: look at, you know, a guy like the Password who's
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: now a top one hundred prospect for US, a guy
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: who's really performing in Triple A. And you can even
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: look down to somebody like Blaze Jordan, who I think
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of people wrote off, has had a tremendous
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: season this year. Walking more than he's striking out in
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: double A, has made a really successful jump up to
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: triple A. Made the hot sheet actually for us this
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: week in his first or second week in triple A.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: So I think overall, you look at all these guys,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: and you look at what the team is doing, and
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: they've just had a lot of success running out this
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: program and getting the most out of their hitters.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Here's the other part of the equation. The Red Sox
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: are firmly in fourth place in the American League East.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: As they call up Roman Anthony with the hype that
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: he has been receiving, will he be expected to be
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: a savior for a team that actually has been okay
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: on offense? I mean, I think at the top five
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: offense and run scored. So it's not like you're going
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to look at them and be like, man, the socks.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: They can't put put days together, consistent days together of
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: putting up offense. Here's Carlos Colazo. By the way, power
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: increases your margin for Aaron Nis when you can still
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: mishit a ball out of the park.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Very true.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I think that's the case for Jack ac Leone as well,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: who got called up about a week ago. By Kansas City.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Do you think there's going to be a ton of
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: pressure on him and the youngsters? Right? The three remaining
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: of the four one got traded Kyle Teel and the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Guyer Crochet deal nailed that so far, he's a cy
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: young contender for the Red Sox. The other three are
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: now all up and could be playing every day at
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: least for now, in Marcelo Meyer, Christian Campbell, and here
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: comes Roman Anthony. Do you think that's going to be
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: a lot on them to try and turn around Boston season.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Even though offense isn't the problem, defense is a huge
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: problem actually, and that's been an issue for Campbell for sure. Yeah.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: And I mean it's it's funny because I think I
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: saw a graphic from TJ Stats as a great job
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: on Twitter with all the stuff that he puts out.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Their infield defense is really bad. Their outfield defense has
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: actually been I think, like exceptionally good, one of the
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: better outfields in the league. So Romanette kind of jumps
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: into that. It doesn't solve the problem that they have
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: in the infield. We'll see, you know, if Meyer obviously
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: can do that when he gets more consistent playing time.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I think That's what's been kind of frustrating early on
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  Speaker 2: with him is they kind of haven't given him the
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: reins fully and Campbell has been up and down at
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  Speaker 2: the plate. I think, you know, we're starting to see
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  Speaker 2: him adjust a little bit more to the league adjusting
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  Speaker 2: to him. The defense though still leaves a little bit
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: to be desired at times. The reactions some of those
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: things aren't great. So I think we're going to see
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: a lot of these guys. I think ultimately this is
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: probably the right play for the Red Sox and we'll see,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: you know what other moves are made over the next
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: two months, because right now this is not a team
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: that's probably going to compete for a playoff spot, let
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: alone a World Series, et cetera. So I think at
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: this point it's time to ride the kids. And there's
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: even some more names that could potentially come up, whether
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: it's you know, just Nixon Garcia, whether it's Blaze Jordan,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: some of the pitchers we've seen come up already, as
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: well as some of the guys that are in the pipeline.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: It's kind of an exciting time if you're into the
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: minor leagues for the Red Sox because this could kind
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: of be the true youth movement breaking point with Anthony
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: coming up.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: This is cool. This is really fun in a time
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: period where suddenly some of the biggest names and some
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: of the biggest power names which usually stands out in
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: our sport are getting called up at the same time.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Roman Anthony is next for Boston.