ATLANTA — The Red Sox roster that takes the field Sunday at Truist Park is expected to look a little bit different than the one that was shut out Saturday afternoon in a 5-0 loss.
Two reinforcements are en route from Triple-A Worcester — but Roman Anthony is not being promoted. Boston is expected to promote utility man Nate Eaton and right-handed reliever Luis Guerrero before Sunday’s series finale in Atlanta, multiple sources confirmed.
The corresponding roster moves are not yet known. Eaton would serve as outfield depth, so it’s possible Rob Refsnyder is dealing with an injury or the Red Sox are swapping out Nick Sogard. Guerrero was last optioned to the WooSox just six days ago — less than the 15-day minimum — so it appears someone on Boston’s staff is dealing with an injury. The Red Sox will also need to clear a 40-man roster spot for Eaton and there are no clear candidates to be moved to the 60-day injured list.
Eaton, a 28-year-old who has 72 games of MLB experience with Kansas City, has hit .277 with five homers, 27 RBIs and an .811 OPS while playing six different positions for the WooSox this year. He’s a right-handed hitter, giving him a short-term edge over Anthony, who the Red Sox are keeping in Worcester for at least a few more days.
Eaton, who has primarily played third base (164 innings), center field (156.1 innings) and right field (79.2 innings) for the WooSox, has hit .300 with an .844 OPS against left-handed pitchers in Triple-A this year. The Red Sox will face two southpaws early in the week when the Angels come to town and start Tyler Anderson and Yusei Kikuchi, then could have more matchups against southpaws like Ryan Yarbrough and/or Carlos Rodón over the weekend in the Bronx. The thinking might be that Anthony, a left-handed hitter, doesn’t represent as good of a short-term option — and the service time equation obviously plays a role, too.
“I don’t think there’s a perfect answer to that,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said Saturday when asked about a timeline for Anthony’s big league debut. “We’re trying to balance what’s best for Roman and his development with where we are as a team and the way we’re prioritizing our 2025 season. We try to lean on the goals and process you think about in the offseason when the noise isn’t quite so loud.
“I think you also have to be willing to react to the situation you have right now. It’s impossible to ignore the performance he has had in Triple-A and how that’s lining up with our struggles here at the big league level, but we’re also trying to be mindful of the environment that we put him in, what he still has to work on, and what the pressure and demands would be. We’ll try to make the best decision we can for him.”
Guerrero, 24, has bounced back and forth between the big leagues at Triple-A throughout the year. He has a 1.69 ERA in four big league games and a 4.43 ERA in 20 ⅓ innings for the WooSox. The flamethrower owns a 1.17 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 15 ⅓ MLB frames over the last two seasons.
Beyond the Monster’s Chris Henrique first reported the Eaton promotion.
