Ranking Red Sox Opening Day roster: Is Roman Anthony or Garrett Crochet No. 1?

· Yahoo Sports

CINCINNATI —The Red Sox have finalized their Opening Day roster and will begin the 2026 regular season Thursday in Cincinnati.

The Red Sox and Reds will play at 4:10 p.m. at Great American Ball Park. Lefty Garrett Crochet will start opposite Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott.

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Below is a look at the roster, ranking the players 1-26.

26) Jovani Morán,RP: The 28-year-old lefty has no minor league options left. So he must remain on the active roster (expect if injured) or be designated for assignment. He had reverse splits last year at Worcester with left-handed hitters batting .299 against him. That obviously needs to improve if he wants to stay in the big leagues. His slider is an important pitch vs. lefties.

25) Ryan Watson, RP: The 28-year-old Rule 5 Draft pick made the Opening Day roster but must remain on the active roster for the entire season (except if injured) to stay with Boston. Watson admitted to putting some pressure on himself early in camp. Pitching coach Andrew Bailey and bullpen coach Chris Holt helped the reliever relax, then he allowed just one earned run in 6 ⅓ innings over his final four Grapefruit League appearances. The Red Sox would like to see an uptick in his velocity after his 46 four-seam fastballs during spring training averaged 93.3 mph. He had a better perceived average fastball velocity of 94.7 mph.

24) Danny Coulombe, RP: The Red Sox signed the 36-year-old to a one-year, $1 million contract March 12. Coulombe did an excellent job of limiting hard contact and getting batters to chase pitches last year. He posted a 2.30 ERA and 36.2% chase percentage in 55 games for the Twins and Rangers.

23) Connor Wong, C: The 29-year-old backup catcher went 4-for-33 (.121) during spring training after batting .190 in 188 plate appearances for Boston last year. The Red Sox have three catchers with major league experience — Matt Thaiss, Jason Delay and Mickey Gasper — available at Triple-A Worcester if Wong struggles. Wong still has one minor league option remaining.

22) Isiah Kiner-Falefa, UT: The 31-year-old said he’s excited to embrace the role of “a true utility player.” A strong defender, Kiner-Falefa has played every position except for first base in the majors. He’ll likely add first base to the resume this season after Boston started him there six times (38 innings) in Grapefruit League play.

21) Andruw Monasterio,UT: The 28-year-old right-handed hitter beat out Nate Eaton for the final utility role. He hits lefties well and has been a plus defender at second base and third base in his big league career. He and Kiner-Falefa are both expected to see some time at second base against left-handed pitchers. He has had limited time at first base in his career but the Red Sox got him three starts and 28 innings there during spring training to try to prepare him to be one of their backup options behind Willson Contreras.

20) Masataka Yoshida, DH/OF: With Yoshida’s shoulder finally fully healthy, manager Alex Cora said the Red Sox feel like they are getting the 2023 first half version of him. The 32-year-old enjoyed an excellent first half as a rookie in 2023, batting .316 with a .382 on-base percentage, .492 slugging percentage, 10 home runs, 19 doubles, two triples and 44 RBIs in 78 games. But where does he fit on this team? Where’s he going to get playing time? The Red Sox have four starting outfielders (Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu) and plan to rotate them through the DH spot.

19) Greg Weissert, RP: The 31-year-old was a beast for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic, throwing 3 ⅓ scoreless innings. He struck out five and recorded three saves. He had a good season in 2025, posting a 2.82 ERA and ranking in the 74th percentile in expected batting average (.220) in 72 outings out of the Red Sox bullpen.

18) Johan Oviedo, RP/SP: The 28-year-old will begin the season as Boston’s long reliever but could eventually slide into the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation. He and Connelly Early competed for the fifth spot throughout spring training. The Red Sox decided to carry both pitchers on the roster to open the season because Ranger Suárez is not completely built up. Suárez is scheduled to start Monday in Houston and the plan as of now is for Oviedo to follow him in relief. The plan is subject to change if another starter fails to pitch deep the first three games in Cincinnati.

17) Connelly Early, SP: The Red Sox don’t want to disrupt the development of the 23-year-old by having him pitch out of the bullpen to begin the season. They want him to remain a starter. So with Boston carrying both Oviedo and Early on its roster to begin the season, Early will start Sunday in Cincinnati while Oviedo will be in the bullpen for now. If Early spends 35 days in the minor leagues this season, the Red Sox would receive an extra year of control. But it will be difficult to take that rotation spot away from him if he’s pitching well.

16) Marcelo Mayer, 2B: The 23-year-old won the second base job after competing for a roster spot all spring. He’s a plus defender but he needs to show he can be a more consistent hitter in the majors. He batted only .228 with a .272 on-base percentage, .402 slugging percentage and .674 OPS in 44 games (136 plate appearances) as a rookie last year. He is expected to start at second base against righties with Kiner-Falefa and Monasterio playing against lefties.

15) Justin Slaten, RP: The 28-year-old is a huge piece in the bullpen behind Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman. He ranked in the 86th percentile in average fastball velocity (96.7 mph) last season. It’s important he stays healthy though. He has spent time on the IL in each of his two major league seasons, including missing 76 games last year with a right shoulder injury. His transverse process/bone was pressing and pinching against nerves and blood vessels, causing soreness.

14) Garrett Whitlock, RP: The 29-year-old allowed one earned run in his final 30 innings last year after moving from the third base side of the rubber to the first base side. Whitlock is Boston’s second most important reliever behind Aroldis Chapman. He changed his conditioning program in the offseason to prevent him from tiring if he needs to throw more pitches than normal in an outing.

13) Sonny Gray, SP: He doesn’t throw hard (his fastball averaged 92 mph last year) but he has reached 200 strikeouts each of the past two seasons. He uses an excellent breaking ball along with above-average control (5.0% walk percentage in 2025) to get hitters to chase and induce strikeouts.

12) Ranger Suárez, SP: There will be high expectations for the 30-year-old lefty after he signed a five-year, $133 million contract with Boston in free agency this past offseason. He struggled in the World Baseball Classic for Venezuela, then gave up eight runs in 4 ⅓ innings in a spring training start against the Twins on Tuesday. With few innings pitched this spring, he’s expected to be limited in his first start.

11) Carlos Narváez, C: The 27-year-old played through a knee injury throughout the 2025 season that required offseason surgery. His offensive stats declined in the second half but that likely had to do with his knee issue and his workload being 386 ⅔ innings more than he had caught in any previous professional season. He had a terrific defensive season with blocking, framing and throwing out runners.

10) Caleb Durbin, 3B: The Red Sox want to increase their contact rate with runners in scoring position and fewer than two outs. Durbin should help in this area. The 26-year-old finished in the 98th percentile in strikeout percentage (9.9%) and 96th percentile in whiff percentage (13.0%) as a rookie last year for the Brewers. He provides plus defense at third base. He also thinks he’ll be able to hit for more power with a right-handed swing that should play at Fenway Park.

9) Trevor Story, SS: The 33-year-old was one of Boston’s most productive hitters in 2025 with 25 home runs and 96 RBIs. Despite the production, his peripheral stats weren’t as good. He ranked in the 20th percentile or below in chase percentage, whiff percentage, strikeout percentage, walk percentage and squared-up percentage. He will bat second in the order. Defensively, his range needs to be better this year.

8) Brayan Bello, SP: The Red Sox signed Ranger Suárez and traded for Sonny Gray in the offseason. That means Bello doesn’t need to be the No. 2 starter. That said, look for him to take a major leap forward in 2026 as he regains the feel of his changeup and uses the pitch more often. He also plans to throw a curveball this year. The 26-year-old righty allowed just one run and one hit while striking out seven in 5 innings in his one WBC start, a win for the Dominican Republic over Israel. He then struck out 14 in 11 scoreless innings across his final two spring training starts.

7) Willson Contreras, 1B: The 33-year-old’s right-handed swing should play at Fenway Park. He has 25-30 home run power, finishing last year in the 95th percentile in bat speed (76.0 mph), 86th percentile in barrel percentage (13.9%), 84th percentile in expected slugging percentage (.488) and 83rd percentile in hard hit percentage (49.0%).

6) Ceddanne Rafaela, CF: The 25-year-old finished third among Red Sox players in FanGraphs WAR (3.8) in 2025 thanks to his exceptional defense. The key to becoming more consistent offensively is laying off pitches outside the strike zone. He had a 42.2% chase percentage. He has had some dominant stretches offensively when he has done a better job of controlling the strike zone, including batting .301 with a .558 slugging percentage in 59 games from May 7-July 13, 2025.

5) Aroldis Chapman, Closer: The 38-year-old threw 482 pitches at 98 mph or harder in 2025 after the entire 2024 Red Sox bullpen combined for just 62 pitches at that speed. The key stat, however, for Chapman this year will be walk percentage. He had a 6.6% walk percentage in 2025, compared to his career 12.2% mark.

4) Wilyer Abreu, RF: The 26-year-old right fielder was on a 30-home run pace through the end of July last season. But he missed 30 games late in the season with a left calf strain and finished with 22 home runs. The Red Sox think the two-time Gold Glover can hit for a higher average and increase his on-base percentage this season. He certainly has legit power and showed that with a 409-foot go-ahead home run in the quarterfinals of the WBC to lead Venezuela past Japan. Boston plans to use him more against left-handed starters this year.

3) Jarren Duran, LF: The 29-year-old went 16-for-42 (.381) with six homers and three doubles in 15 Grapefruit League and World Baseball Classic games combined. He’ll bat third and Alex Cora said he “seems like a different hitter” this year. Duran looks like a hitter who could reach what he did in 2024 when he finished eighth for the AL MVP and led the league in both doubles (48) and triples (14).

2) Garrett Crochet, SP: Opponents batted just .126 (22-for-174) against the ace’s sweeper last year when he finished second to Tarik Skubal for the AL Cy Young. He added a splitter in the offseason and should again be one of MLB’s best starting pitchers. He finished last year with a terrific 31.3% strikeout rate, 32.6% chase percentage and 2.89 expected ERA.

1) Roman Anthony, OF: It wasn’t easy picking between Crochet and Anthony for the top spot. Despite being just 21, Anthony should be one of the game’s top players this season. He had a .396 on-base percentage in 303 plate appearances as a rookie last year. He also slugged 97 points better in his final 40 games than he did in his first 31 games. He has the chance to be an on-base machine while also producing 25-30 home run power. Not that many players hit the ball as hard — and as consistently hard — as him. He had 60.3% hard hit percentage as a rookie.

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