Red Sox No. 1 Prospect Breaks Silence On Snub From Teammate Triston Casas

Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas sure knows how to generate headlines.

With his team embroiled in a controversy over the starting third base job, Casas let all his thoughts be known on Tuesday. He not only said that he believes Rafael Devers should keep his job over free-agent acquisition Alex Bregman, but he gave his thoughts on which players should be left off the Opening Day roster altogether.

Casas said that he believed the Red Sox's top three prospects, Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, and Marcelo Mayer, should be left off the Opening Day roster, which he called "beautiful," but emphasized that there were "grown men" on the team with some issues to sort out.

For any unestablished player, especially a 20-year-old like Anthony, it can be tough to be rebuffed by a future teammate. But the Red Sox's consensus number-one prospect doesn't seem to be too fazed.

Speaking to WEEI's Rob Bradford on Wednesday, Anthony acknowledged that he had heard Casas' opinion, but kept the focus on what he had to do in the short term to give himself a fighting shot at a roster spot.

"For me it’s just coming in here every day and working as hard as I can to make the team. Nothing really changes for me," Anthony said. "I’m just going to continue to come in here and learn from all these guys and work my ass off to break with this team.

"Finishing the year in Worcester last year, learning from those guys and then coming in here now and being surrounded by these guys it’s motivating to stay with these guys when spring training is over. I think we have a really good group. I think it’s going to be a really good team this year. A lot of positives."

Anthony, a lefty-hitting outfielder with 30-homer potential, has had a meteoric rise since he was drafted in the second round of the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft. He made it to Triple-A in August and excelled in 35 games, posting a .982 OPS and 16 extra-base hits.

Casas also acknowledged that Anthony and his fellow prospects' time was coming. It's a question of when the Red Sox decide to pull that trigger, and though the first baseman voiced his opinions, Craig Breslow and Alex Cora will cast the deciding votes.

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