Red Sox Staying ‘Mindful’ Of This ‘Reality’ With Elite Prospects

The Red Sox will introduce new faces at spring training, but it’s also an opportunity to showcase the club’s best prospects.

Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer were invited to spring training as non-roster invitees. Boston’s trio of top prospects hope to not only show their hard work from the offseason but also compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora will allow them to compete, but the Red Sox chief baseball officer wanted to stress one thing about their time at Fort Myers, Fla.

“There’s excitement around Roman, around Kristian, around Marcelo, around others and rightfully so,” Breslow told reporters, as seen on NESN. “At the same time, I think it’s important to be mindful of the reality that Roman is 20 years old and in his first big league camp. Obviously, we’re thrilled he’s a part of this organization. We’re thrilled with the current state of the farm system, but our job is not to win farm system rankings. It’s to win big league ball games.”

That line of thinking was similar to how Anthony treated his growing stardom. Boston’s No. 1 prospect understood that the most important thing for him and his fellow top prospects is what they do at the major league level. That doesn’t mean they want to rush their call-up as they respect the plan the front office has for them.

However, it’s clear the eagerness to see the Red Sox’s top prospects shine at spring training clearly is felt across the organization.