Monday Morning Brushback: It Keeps You Runnin’

The Red Sox week in review dives into Trevor Story, the bullpen, and the Roman Anthony question.

Now that’s more like it.

At the start of this week, I thought we might be in for another MMBB where I’d have to hold my nose while writing it. Tanner Houck—who I stuck my neck out for in a recent article—went on to let about 400 Rays score on Monday en route to an ugly loss. But after Alex Bregman displayed his dad strength on Tuesday, the entire pitching staff clinched a series win against Tampa via a stellar performance on Wednesday, and the Sox took the first two games of the weekend series against the White Sox, the Red Sox now enter Patriots Day with the blueprint of what their ceiling looks like.

Is this the start we had all hoped for at the start of the season, when we were all wide-eyed and bushy-tailed akin to the magic bunny who just visited us this weekend? Probably not, no. But perhaps these past few games are the start of something—the signs that this team is riding out the choppy waves of 2025’s first month and ready to establish themselves towards the front of a mediocre American League.

Hey, at least that notice we had to begin the year seems to be panning out so far, right? The Junior Circuit is pretty mid. Sure, the Yankees and Rangers are off to good starts. Yeah, the Blue Jays and Tigers have gotten out of the gates well enough. None of the other AL teams really seem intimidating though! The pennant can be right there for the taking as we still have a long race to run on this Marathon Monday.

The weather’s turning for the better and the boys are playing pretty well as of late. You won’t find me complaining much in this edition of the MMBB. Speaking of which…

It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.

The Story Continues

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

Shortstop Trevor Story deserves his flowers.

After getting off to a strong start last season, one play in Anaheim messed up his shoulder and derailed his season. The guy hasn’t been able to make a massive impact in Boston ever since he inked a long-term deal prior to the start of the 2022 campaign, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that he had only played 163 games—one more than a single season—during his first three years with the Red Sox.

But he’s worked hard yet again to get back out on the field—as he should, considering he has tens of millions of reasons to do so. I say that tongue in cheek, but the guy did genuinely seem crushed after his 2024 season went the way of the dodo.

As of late, though, his hard work has been paying off. He’s been held hitless in just three games this month, and he’s logged 14 RBI thanks in part to seven extra-base hits.

Part of that success has come from the fact that he’s done a great job hunting breaking and offspeed pitches. His .503 expected slugging number against breaking pitches thus far in 2025 would be his highest mark in that category since his rookie year in 2016. His xSLG when swinging at offspeed stuff is absolutely through the roof at this point, but he’s historically been a good hitter against those pitches over the course of his career ,even if that metric regresses down to the norm (he’s only slugged below .569 on offspeed stuff in one year since 2018—last year, the one that he essentially lost due to injury). While he’s not been tearing the cover off of fastballs so far in 2025, he’s always had success against heaters when you look at that same measuring stick: his slugging against fastballs year by year has never been below the .400.

With Story, I see a guy who has demonstrated time and time again that he’s able to hit fastballs well. If he’s able to continue to make life difficult for guys offering secondary stuff, that’s the recipe for a vital part of the middle of the order. Being able to turn on just about anything someone offers you opens the door for drawn out, competitive ABs where counts are worked and the line keeps moving. Guys who can do that—like Trevor Story has the capacity to, if you ask me—make the lineup that much deeper. If the guys ahead of him can make more strides as the season continues, then Story should be seeing even better pitches to hit.

Of course, I’m not saying Story has to—or will—continue at the torrid pace he’s set in April. It’s beyond unrealistic to hold him to this standard over the course of 162 matchups.

It’s nice to be reminded that the Red Sox have a guy up the middle of the infield who can go on tears like this, though. Barring health, Trevor Story could be a big reason why this team goes on a run late into the fall—that’s within the realm of outcomes for this club. Story doesn’t have to be THE guy on this team, but on his night he can certainly be a major cog in the machine.

I know we’re all excited for Marcelo Mayer to make his debut in the relatively near future (myself included, trust me), but don’t sleep on number 10. He and third baseman Alex Bregman could be key veterans on the left side of the diamond and the right side of the dish for a team that has high aspirations.

The Firemen Save the Day

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

For a team that’s seen the highs and lows of the starting pitching experience in just a few weeks (paging Garrett Crochet and Tanner Houck), the Red Sox have gotten some solid support from the relievers in recent games (I know, I know: yesterday most definitely excluded).

While the overall bullpen numbers don’t necessarily jump out at you—the overall unit’s ERA is right in the middle of the pack across all of MLB— there have been individuals who have demonstrated quality: seven relievers on the team have made at least five appearances while posting an ERA+ over 135. Two other guys not included in that list—Justin Slaten and Zack Kelly—have an ERA+ under 100 but a FIP under 3.00, suggesting that the best is yet to come for them in 2025.

Slaten especially has shown encouraging signs this past week. After a rough start to the year, he came on in the ninth on Wednesday to shut the door on the Rays and clinch the series win at Steinbrenner Field. Just look at that Uncle Charlie, man. What a curve he had working for him the other night, sweet as candy.

Bonus points to Slaten for talking to himself on the mound to hype himself up. Love that intangible quality in a reliever. I need my firemen to have a lil’ bit of a screw loose.

Out of the main cast of bullpen characters that we’ve seen so far, Garrett Whitlock’s performance has made me the most giddy.

It had been a bit touch-and-go with Whit ever since his breakout 2021 season. The stop-and-start nature of his tenure as a starter, the health issues, all that stuff—I feel like we almost forgot how fucking filthy he can be!

Now that he’s been moved back to the arm barn on a full-time basis, I’m starting to fall back in love with Whitlock’s game. The average velocity on his sinker has been sniffing 96 MPH, the highest it’s been since ‘21 and ‘22. Hell, he’s throwing just about his entire arsenal at least as hard (if not harder) than he was back then. Saving his bullets for just a few innings a week could end up being a wise move for this team. Whitlock’s versatility to eat a few innings here and there or to be used in high leverage spots when the Sox really need it is going to do miracles on us all.

And now, Liam Hendriks gets added to the mix. Things got ugly yesterday, but who knows what the Aussie still has left in the tank; if it’s anything of value, this bullpen just got that much better.

It’s funny how baseball can work: going into the season, I would’ve said that the bullpen could’ve potentially been this team’s downfall. It very well still might, because what do I know? But all I can go off of is what we’ve seen. As of now, this has been a solid unit. They’re still gonna have to bear some additional burdens as we wait for the rest of the rotation to get healthy (and for Houck to, hopefully, get back on track), but I’m cautiously optimistic based off of how they’ve started the year.

Rome Wasn’t Built in One Day

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Outfielder and uber prospect Roman Anthony has been the topic of discussion in the internet streets over the past few days. OTM’s very own Jake Reiser gave his own take on when the organization’s top minor leaguer should be getting the call to the bigs, while some big Red Sox podcast (can’t remember who hosts it, some guy named Careabis or something?) started their most recent episode discussing the decision to not include him on the Opening Day roster. Some other commentators in the area have floated the idea of moving the outfielder to first base, which is an idea that I will not legitimize any further by explaining why it’s a batshit crazy idea.

Now you may be asking: what might have sparked this discussion outside of general excitement for his inevitable call-up?

Good question, dear reader. These talks seem to be intensifying when you consider the fact that Roman Anthony is fucking raking in AAA.

Hard to compare what a guy is doing in AAA compared to what the two league MVPs did last year, but the point remains: we might have someone special on our hands, folks.

Obviously, Roman Anthony has the facilities to succeed at the big league level right off the bat (no pun intended). No prospect is ever a surefire bet to succeed, but Anthony’s ability at the plate seems to be just about as close to a sure thing that you can get. He has good command of the zone, he can attack with damage when challenged in the zone, and he’s barreled the ball damn near half the time he’s been with the WooSox in 2025.

I won’t address every single point that everyone’s made about why he hasn’t been called up to MLB just yet, but let me just lay out my thoughts point by point if you’ll indulge me. Just seems easier to do it this way:

1. To reiterate: Anthony should probably be in the majors soon, if not right now.
2. Keeping Anthony down in AAA until August or September—hell, even keeping him down before Memorial Day—would be malpractice; no other way to describe it.
3. I understand that the organization would want Anthony to be 100% ready to play in the outfield every day when he does eventually get called up; the shoulder soreness he recently experienced sorta throws a wrench in that, I guess, so it makes sense to get him back into a regular routine of playing defense.
4. I understand being frustrated when looking at the big picture that a Roman Anthony Rookie of the Year victory would be annoying considering that he’d then earn a full year of service time in spite of how many games he played; this team wants to make a playoff push now, though, and Anthony gives you the best chance to put up the offensive numbers to do so.
5. Anthony, for as talented as he is, could very well not win ROY—even if he’d become the favorite if he’s called up in a matter of days—considering that the Red Sox have another rookie by the name of Kristian Campbell who’s been hitting around .300 since Opening Day; the ROY point could be a moot one at the end of the day.
6. Anthony has to be an everyday outfielder when he does join the big club; the Red Sox will have a good problem on their hands when they have to decide who goes to the bench
7. With that being said, and as much as I love the guy, I think the guy who moves to the bench is Ceddanne Rafaela—even with a slow Jarren Duran start, I still think having him at the top of the order could be the straw that stirs the drink.
8. I know it’s hard to be patient, and I know I ask you folks to do so a lot in the MMBB, but be patient—the Roman Empire will bless us all very, very, very soon.

Song of the Week: “I Ran (So Far Away)” by A Flock of Seagulls

Seems timely to pick this, with today being Marathon Monday and all.

Same time and same place next week, friends! Go Sox.