Veteran: Red Sox' Roman Anthony ‘the best minor league hitter I've ever seen'
Toro played in a loaded Astros farm system. He was teammates on the 2019 Triple-A Round Rock Express with Kyle Tucker before the then-top 10 MLB Pipeline prospect was a September call-up. Tucker has gone on to become a three-time All-Star with a career .876 OPS.
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But Toro said Red Sox 20-year-old outfield prospect Roman Anthony has stood out to him offensively like nobody else.
'I don't say this lightly — I think he's the best minor league hitter I've ever seen," said Toro, who has played for five different organizations and appeared in 28 games for the WooSox to begin the 2025 season. 'I think he can be an absolute star in MLB. It just shows what he's doing.'
Anthony is batting .305 with a .419 on-base percentage, .514 slugging percentage, .933 OPS, five homers, five doubles, one triple, 17 RBIs, 22 runs, 22 walks and 26 strikeouts in 29 games (129 plate appearances) for Worcester.
'He's patient,' Toro said. 'The way he's hitting it the other way, he's going to be a star one day.'
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In addition to his extensive minor league resume, Toro has appeared in 366 major league games for the Astros, Mariners, Brewers, Athletics and Red Sox.
'The thing that impressed me the most is you don't see young guys going that often for power to the opposite field,' Toro said. 'And he stays there. And he's not really trying to pull the ball. Whenever he does, it's kind of like by accident.'
Anthony, a left-handed hitter, has pulled one home run to right field this season, a 412-foot, 109.6-mph blast.
He has driven two home runs to left-center field and one to left field. His other blast went to center field.
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He ripped his triple (413 feet with a 100.6 mph exit velocity) to center field.
Three of his five doubles have gone to the opposite field in left. He also has doubled to center field.
And so of his 11 extra-base hits, nine have traveled either to the opposite field or center.
'If he can pull the ball more often, he'll just be one of the best players,' Toro said.
Anthony hits it far and hard when he does pull the ball. He had a 114 mph homer to right field last year. That was the highest exit velocity in the organization in 2024.
He also had a 110 mph blast to right field in the Spring Breakout Game in March right after a heckler chanted 'overrated' at him.
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His exit velocities are off the charts. All 11 extra-base hits have had an exit velocity over 100 mph — and eight have left his bat with over 105 mph.
Anthony has 'very strong and consistent' bat speed, senior director of player development Brian Abraham said.
The Red Sox have focused on increasing bat speed with their minor leaguers, including using overload and underload training bats. Rookie Kristian Campbell has shown quality bat speed so far, ranking in the 71st percentile among major league hitters in that category (73.2).
'It's not always just bat speed but I think bat speed gives you the ability to hit the ball farther, the ability to potentially mis-hit a ball and still hit it hard,' Abraham said. 'I think if you look at Roman Anthony's 90th percentile exit velos, he's a 105-plus pretty consistently. So yeah, you have to swing the bat fast to be able to do that. You have to be strong to be able to do that. And I think they tend to generally go hand in hand. Definitely towards the top in our organization when it comes to that. Kristian certainly is as well.'
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