FORT MYERS, Fla. — Three years ago, Roman Anthony sat in the stands with a few Red Sox minor leaguers, watching an epic World Baseball Classic finale as Team Japan beat Team USA with Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to give Japan the championship.
Much has changed since then, and next month, the 21-year-old Anthony will be suiting up for Team USA in the WBC as the squad’s youngest player.
It’s yet another accolade for the already well-accomplished Anthony, who’s set to play left field in the tournament with an outfield that will feature the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Anthony received word late Sunday night that he’d been cleared to play for Team USA. The USA roster had an opening after outfielder Corbin Carroll exited the tournament with a broken right hamate bone. USA head coach Mark DeRosa called Anthony late last week to let him know he’d be Carroll’s replacement, given that he passed a physical.
“Amazing,” Anthony said of the opportunity. “For me, watching the WBC growing up, watching all my favorite players representing the greatest country in the world, it’s something you dream of as a kid.”
Anthony, drafted in the second round in 2022, was in his first professional spring training with the Red Sox when he and a few fellow draftees, including Mikey Romero, Cutter Coffey and Dalton Rogers, drove across the state to watch the WBC finale in Miami after a minor-league workout in March 2023.
“It’s something that you say, ‘Yeah, I want to do this at some point,’ whether it’s a few years down the road or 10 years down the road,” Anthony said. “Getting to represent the USA at any time would be more than a blessing. I don’t know if I necessarily thought that it would be this time around, but I’m just excited to do it.”
Anthony will be one of 12 Red Sox players on the 40-man roster headed to play in the WBC, but reliever Garrett Whitlock is the only other player on the USA roster. Anthony, however, will reunite with Alex Bregman, who’s set to play third base for the club. Anthony grew close with Bregman last season when the two were teammates before Bregman signed with the Cubs in January.
“He reached out when it happened, and we talked over the phone,” Anthony said. “He wanted to see where I was at and just kind of checked in. Obviously, it’ll be a great opportunity to take the field with him.”
Anthony and the rest of the WBC players are expected to leave Red Sox camp around March 1. Team USA has an exhibition game March 3 in Arizona, and its first official game will be on March 6 against Brazil.
Jarren Duran ignored trade rumors this offseason
Duran’s name hovered in trade rumors throughout the offseason as the Red Sox featured four big-league outfielders: Duran, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu.
With Anthony, a franchise cornerstone having signed an eight-year, $130 million deal last season, and Abreu and Rafaela coming off Gold Glove-winning seasons, Duran, the oldest of the group, seemed most likely to be traded to fill pitching or infield needs.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow insisted he intended to keep all four outfielders, and as camp has gotten underway, that’s remained the case.
“I never look at that stuff,” Duran said on Monday. “My parents look at it enough for me. They text me and go, ‘Did you get traded?’ I’m like, ‘Do you really think I’m not going to let you know if I get traded? C’mon.’ I never give it any two cents. It’s in God’s hands and whatever happens, happens.”
A league source indicated several teams were interested in Duran, but the Red Sox were holding a high bar (one no team ever met) in any potential deal. The Red Sox view Duran’s speed and power as too valuable and will rotate him and Anthony between left field and designated hitter.
“I would be the fastest DH in the league,” Duran quipped, noting manager Alex Cora hasn’t discussed the playing time plan with him just yet.
Duran had a solid 2025 season, hitting .256 with a .774 OPS, 41 doubles, 13 triples, 16 homers and 24 stolen bases in 157 games, but it didn’t match his All-Star 2024 season when he hit .285 with an .834 OPS in 160 games.
“I’m always disappointed in myself,” he said. “I always feel like I don’t do the best that I can do. I feel like I let the fans down sometimes, or my teammates. But it’s a new year, so you just have to flush it and go out there and do my thing.”
Duran, like the other three outfielders, is headed to play in the WBC in a few weeks. He’s set to play for Team Mexico, where he’s scheduled to be the right fielder. Because of that, he’s started getting reps in camp at right field, a position he’s less familiar.
“Hopefully we can get him in games, playing that position, get him ready,” Cora said. “If he’s going to play right field (in the WBC), he better be ready, because it’d be hard for me to be watching a game and then all of a sudden he gets hurt because he wasn’t prepared for that.”
Tanner Houck returns to the mound
Houck, who had Tommy John surgery on Aug. 18, threw a baseball on Monday for the first time since his injury.
“My whole goal is to be back in September,” Houck said. “I set that goal basically the day after the surgery. I wanted to do it smart and the right way.
Houck, 29, struggled through nine starts last season with an 8.04 ERA before landing on the injury list in May with a right flexor pronator strain. After a month on the IL, he returned to the mound, making five minor-league rehab starts, but was shut down again in early July. About a month later, he had a hybrid reconstruction of the right ulnar collateral ligament (elbow) with flexor tendon repair. The typical recovery from such surgery is 12 to 18 months. Houck was not expected to return this season, but he hopes to.
“I can have my goal, but if God has a different plan, then I might have to readjust as things ramp up with throwing and see how the body recovers,” he said.
Houck made 25 throws at 45 feet on Monday and is scheduled to do so three times a week on a slow progression, increasing distance and number of throws each week. The next major milestone will be throwing off a mound, but he’s taking it one throw at a time.
“Been looking forward to this day for a while,” he said. “Exciting first day.”
Meanwhile, Patrick Sandoval, who returned to the mound and threw at a live batting practice on Friday for the first time since his Tommy John surgery in June 2024, said he’s feeling good. He is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Tuesday and another live BP this Friday, in which he’ll throw 25 pitches, 10 more than last week. He’ll continue building up on that schedule for the next few weeks before entering games.
For the second consecutive day, Marcelo Mayer played second base and Caleb Durbin played third in infield drills. Cora has yet to announce his infield and said the two players will see time at the other position soon. Romy Gonzalez, who’s dealing with shoulder inflammation, has yet to begin baseball activities.