Whether top Red Sox prospects Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell or Marcelo Mayer make the Opening Day roster continues to be a major storyline of spring training.<\/p>\n
But Red Sox manager Alex Cora made it clear for that to happen it would have to come under the right circumstances.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox will not have any one of the \u201cBig Three\u201d on the big-league roster for ceremonial purposes. They will need to win an everyday job to play in the majors because serving in a platoon role is out of the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s fair to say it,\u201d Cora\u00a0told reporters Sunday, per MLB.com\u2019s Ian Browne. \u201cThere\u2019s still development, but at the same time you see it. But that at-bat yesterday by Roman against the lefty, that was a mature bat, and we\u2019ve seen that through camp. He played some good outfield in Jupiter. He moved well. Marcelo\u2019s doing the same thing. Campbell has struggled. That\u2019s part of it, right? Like, not everybody is going to be able to slow it down in camp and be perfect, but that\u2019s part of the progression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony, who is considered the top position prospect in all of baseball,\u00a0perhaps is the closest\u00a0of three to cracking Boston\u2019s roster out of camp. But there\u2019s no room in the outfield at the moment for the 20-year-old with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, who\u00a0expects to be ready\u00a0for Opening Day despite missing time this spring due to a virus, taking up the three starting spots.<\/p>\n
Mayer showed well so far this spring, slashing .360\/.429\/.989 with one home run and seven RBIs. But the 22-year-old shortstop ran into the same problem as Anthony. There\u2019s not an open spot on the left side of the infield for Mayer to fill with Trevor Story and Alex Bregman set to be Boston\u2019s starting shortstop and third baseman, respectively.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Campbell, who\u00a0had the best shot\u00a0out of any of the prospects to crack the roster due to the opening at second base. But Campbell hasn\u2019t seized his opportunity, batting just .152 in spring training. Meanwhile, David Hamilton looks like the favorite at the middle infield spot after blasting two home runs with six RBIs and five stolen bases.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s looking more and more likely that Anthony, Mayer and Campbell will begin the season with Triple-A Worcester as the Red Sox try to juggle what\u2019s best for that prized trio and their big-league club.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying time is important, the development of the player is important, but I think winning games right now is more important,\u201d Cora said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whether top Red Sox prospects Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell or Marcelo Mayer make the Opening Day roster continues to be a major storyline of spring training. But… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n