Roman Anthony Was Closer Than Expected To Avoiding Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have one of the brightest young budding stars in outfielder Roman Anthony.

He was baseball’s No. 1 prospect this season and lived up to the hype before hurting his oblique. Now, the Red Sox are going to miss him likely for the rest of the regular season after playing in 71 games. Anthony slashed .292/.396/.463 with eight home runs, 32 RBIs, four stolen bases, 18 doubles, one triple, and 48 runs scored. Anthony quickly racked up 3.1 wins above replacement, as well.

Boston loves Anthony and already locked him up with a long-term contract extension. Fortunately, he's not going anywhere anytime soon. While this is the case, Adam Steinmetz of PitcherList.com shared a fascinating story about Anthony's 2022 MLB Draft selection and how close he was to actually going off to college, rather than signing with Boston.

Things worked out for the Red Sox, it seems

Sep 1, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Roman Anthony (19) scores a run on a ball by Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Parker Messick (77) (not pictured) during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

"The Red Sox drafted Roman with the 79th pick (the second to last in the second round)," Steinmetz said. "Former Red Sox scout Willie Romay and now Assistant GM Paul Toboni had built solid relationships with the Anthony family and strongly believed in Roman. Tony and Lori also liked that the Red Sox were a storied franchise and held their Spring Training in Fort Myers, less than a two-and-a-half-hour drive away. Roman, however, wanted to go to college.

“He really wanted to go to Ole Miss. He did not want to sign,” Tony Anthony said to Steinmetz. “My wife really had to convince him that, as an 18-year-old getting first-round money with an iconic franchise to boot, they would be really invested in him from a commitment standpoint. Roman’s idea was that he would go to Ole Miss and become an All-American and get a whole lot more money (and maybe he would have). However, her take was that you can’t control injuries or other scenarios that might happen. And so she really convinced him that it was the right thing to do at the time. And thank goodness she did, because it ended up working out great.”

You can check out the entire fascinating story from Steinmetz right here.

There you have it. Imagine how different Boston's future would look right now if Anthony had decided to go to Ole Miss?

More MLB: Alex Bregman Has Red Sox Message After Yankees Loss