On the morning of August 6th, Roman Anthony signed an 8-year $130 million contract extension with the Boston Red Sox following his impressive first two months. The former #1 prospect in baseball has demonstrated a notable level of maturity for a 21-year-old, given the heavy expectations, and has handled his rookie season tremendously. Anthony’s importance to the Red Sox’s success cannot be understated, and has landed him long-term financial security in Boston.
Despite a cold start to his major league career, there was little concern over Anthony’s transition to the Red Sox. While the stats were poor at face value, he hit the ball extremely hard with little luck. Over his last 30 games, he’s slashed .348 AVG / .447 OBP / .500 SLG /. 947 OPS without pulling the ball in the air up to this point. Anthony’s hot streak puts him at a line of .278 AVG / .394 OBP / .420 SLG / .814 OPS on the season.
As impressive as he’s been thus far, Anthony is barely scratching the surface of what Boston thinks he can be as a hitter. While he’s showcased the plate discipline of a 10-year veteran, there are times when he could certainly be more aggressive swinging at pitches in the strike zone. Despite this, it’s encouraging to see him only swinging at strikes with a chase rate of just 20.1%.
Anthony pairs his excellent swing decisions with extremely hard contact, tied for 5th in average exit velocity at 94.1 MPH. The next step for him is to hit the ball in the air and utilize his pull-side power. His 55% ground ball rate will certainly be an area he looks to reduce going forward, which will help him increase his home run total.
While Anthony’s extension reads as eight years, $130 million, multiple escalators, and incentives could propel the contract to $230 million, as well as a club option for an additional ninth year.
Major League Baseball’s free agency begins after a player reaches six years of service time, which is calculated by spending 172 days on the roster or injured list every year. A player can reach free agency a year early by finishing in the top two in the Rookie of the Year race, which would automatically qualify their season as a full year of service time.
As the Red Sox just did with Anthony, teams will agree to long-term extensions with highly touted prospects early in their careers, and even before they debut in some cases. The idea behind his extension is to buy out multiple years of free agency by paying a higher AAV ($16 million) than he would’ve received from his pre-free agency contracts in exchange for additional years with the organization. Coming to this agreement benefits both sides, as Anthony will still receive a massive contract when he does eventually hit free agency if he pans out as expected, and Boston ensures the future of the face of their franchise.
Despite failing to agree on an extension in the Spring, Anthony’s Red Sox debut helped both sides complete the deal. As he stated in his press conference, Boston is where he wanted to be for the better part of a decade, and this will allow him to do so. Letting another franchise player leave would be a disaster for the Red Sox front office, and they’ve avoided that outcome for the time being.
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