Red Sox's Roman Anthony Saddled With MVP Expectations Before Sophomore Season

Boston Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony Roman Anthony has had huge expectations on his shoulders from day one in a Boston Red Sox uniform, and to this point, he's passed all of his tests with flying colors. Anthony became the Red Sox's best hitter in short order after the Rafael Devers trade last June. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting despite playing less than half of his team's games.

He was thrust into action last-minute for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic, only to hit two massive home runs and make the all-tournament team. Now, Anthony has to live up to some evaluators tossing out the letters M-V-P in front of his name as he prepares to join the opening day roster for the first time in his career. On Friday, Eno Sarris of The Athletic made a "bold prediction" that Anthony would win the American League's Most Valuable Player Award this season, which becomes especially spicy when one considers what Aaron Judge has been doing for the rival New York Yankees over the past half-decade.

"The one knock on Anthony as a Boston Red Sox prospect was that he hit too many ground balls. That was definitely true at the lowest levels, but then he went to work on his swing path and hit a few more balls in the air at every level he reached. Still, a 50 percent ground-ball rate doesn’t seem to presage a big power hitter.

"That notwithstanding, he swings the bat really hard, and when he does put the ball in the air, it goes really far. Though the science of giving batters ‘bat path grades’ based on their swing characteristics is in its infancy, Anthony does well there. " Red Sox fans would probably settle happily on a top 10 finish in MVP voting for Anthony this season (okay, maybe top five).