Last spring the Red Sox entered camp with what seemed like an obvious outfield alignment. Tyler O’Neill would start in left field, Jarren Duran in center, Wilyer Abreu in right and Rob Refsnyder as the first guy off the bench.

The one wild card? Ceddanne Rafaela, who wound up forcing his way into the picture and making the Opening Day roster.

Could a similar scenario unfold this spring with Roman Anthony?

Now ranked as MLB’s No. 1 prospect by Baseball America, the 20-year-old outfielder recently became the youngest Red Sox minor leaguer to reach Triple-A in decades. He thrived upon reaching Worcester, and heading into spring training he should have a real shot of making the big league club.

How the Red Sox handle his potential ascension will be fascinating to watch.

With O’Neill expected to depart in free agency, Boston’s new projected starting outfield consists of Duran, Rafaela and Abreu. Defensively, that might be the best outfield in baseball — Duran and Abreu are both Gold Glove finalists, and Rafaela should have been — and offensively all three have shown themselves capable of impacting the game, with Duran in particular coming off a historic season.

They are also all under team control for at least the next four years, so it’s not like there’s a pending free agent the Red Sox could flip entering their last year before free agency. It wouldn’t make sense to call Anthony up and relegate him to the bench, so whenever he reaches the majors — whether that’s on Opening Day or at some point later in 2025 — he’s going to play.

Eventually something is going to have to give, and considering the club’s larger needs, an outfield shakeup shouldn’t be ruled out.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has repeatedly stressed the need to bring in a right-handed power bat to help balance the club’s heavily left-handed lineup, as well as additional starting pitching. Anthony, who bats lefty, will not be a solution to the lineup balance problem, but his presence could empower Breslow to draw from the outfield and swing a trade to solve one of the other issues.

Much like there has been speculation Triston Casas could be traded, Duran or Abreu could conceivably also be dealt as part of an offseason trade, perhaps for an ace to slot in at the front of the rotation. One hypothetical scenario could see one of the two — let’s say Duran — dealt as the centerpiece of a blockbuster for someone like Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet or an arm of similar caliber, a move the Red Sox would make knowing they have Anthony waiting in the wings to fill his spot.

Anthony could then slide into the Opening Day starting left fielder spot while the Red Sox address the right-handed bat issue separately. Or, if the club doesn’t feel Anthony is quite ready, they could turn around and sign someone like Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernandez to play left field, kicking the can down the road on Anthony a bit longer while locking down the right-handed masher the club desperately needs.

Even if the Red Sox leave the outfield alone and address their needs through other means, it’s possible the whole situation could work itself out organically. This year’s outfield logjam ultimately cleared when Trevor Story went down with his fractured shoulder, allowing Rafaela to fill in at shortstop while giving the other outfielders ample playing time. Hopefully the club won’t have to contend with any injuries, but things happen and who’s to say what the situation could look like six months from now.

In either case, having more quality outfield options than you can seemingly accommodate is a good problem to have, and if Anthony realizes his potential then the Red Sox will be in great shape regardless of what else they do this offseason.