PORTLAND, Maine — When the Red Sox drafted Roman Anthony final summer season they noticed an amazing athlete who they believed may develop right into a franchise cornerstone, the type of power-hitting middle fielder each franchise goals of discovering.
Since then, Anthony’s proven he may be all of that and extra.
Less than two years faraway from taking part in highschool baseball in Florida, Roman Anthony is now among the many fastest-rising prospects in all of baseball. The 19-year-old outfielder has rocketed by means of the Red Sox ranks and not too long ago grew to become the primary teenager to succeed in Double-A Portland since Xander Bogaerts in 2012.
Now nearing the top of his first full season {of professional} baseball, Anthony mentioned his expertise with the Red Sox thus far has been all the pieces he may have hoped for.
“It’s awesome. It’s great to be in an organization that gives you credit, sees what you’re doing every day and sees you’re putting in the work off the field as well as on the field,” Anthony mentioned. “It’s been everything I could have imagined and more.”
An elite expertise
Originally chosen No. 79 total within the 2022 MLB Draft with a compensatory choose acquired after shedding Eduardo Rodriguez in free company, Anthony made a quick cameo at Low-A Salem in the direction of the top of final season and returned there to begin the season this April. It was instantly obvious he was too superior for the extent, and two promotions later Anthony nonetheless hasn’t met a problem he couldn’t overcome.
Across three ranges Anthony has batted .267 with an .866 OPS to associate with 14 dwelling runs, 27 doubles, 61 RBI, 16 stolen bases and 85 walks over 103 video games. He’s rapidly acclimated to Double-A too, hitting a house run and 4 doubles, swiping three bases and recording extra walks (7) than strikeouts (4) in his first seven video games.
“There’s no vibration with him. No moment has been too big,” mentioned Portland Sea Dogs supervisor Chad Epperson. “He’s grinded it out in the box, if he gets out he’s back in the dugout, grabs his glove and goes to the field. He’s just very mature, not only as a player but as a human being as well and we’re all seeing it right now.”
Epperson mentioned the traits which have stood out probably the most with Anthony are his superior bat to ball abilities and his swing choices, which permit him to maximise his spectacular energy. Those instruments are a significant cause why Baseball America presently has Anthony ranked because the No. 19 prospect in all of baseball, second solely to Marcelo Mayer (No. 15) within the Red Sox group.
Beyond Anthony’s means to hunt out his pitch and do injury when it comes, Epperson mentioned he’s additionally been spectacular within the subject and is a risk on the bases. Anthony, for his half, mentioned he prefers to think about himself as an all-around baseball participant reasonably than a slugger or a bat-first man.
“I take pride in all aspects of the game, I wouldn’t just say I’m a hitter first, every day I try to get better at every aspect of the game, whether it’s base running, being a good teammate in the dugout, defense, offense,” Anthony mentioned. “Good things happen when you play the right way, so I just try to play as hard as I can and give it all that I’ve got every day.”
One of the blokes
Born in May 2004, Anthony was solely 5 months outdated when the Red Sox ended their 86-year World Series drought. Since going professional he’s often been among the many youngest gamers within the clubhouse, however that hasn’t stopped him from growing a rapport along with his older teammates.
He and Kyle Teel, Boston’s first-round choose on this July’s MLB Draft, have change into notably tight.
“Roman’s the man, I love that guy,” Teel mentioned. “We’ve gotten pretty close since we’ve been together for the last couple of weeks.”
Teel and Anthony first teamed up in High-A final month when Teel was assigned to the Greenville Drive after solely three video games of rookie ball. The two have been then promoted to Portland collectively on Sept. 5, they usually’re now roommates who spend a lot of their downtime hanging out and taking part in the PGA Tour online game of their house.
Anthony, an avid golfer who likes deep-sea fishing when he’s dwelling in Florida, mentioned he’s loved being in Portland and is worked up to get to know New England higher.
“It’s really cool to be here and be one step closer,” Anthony mentioned. “Just being at this field, it’s a great field, a lot of great guys have come through here so it’s just exciting to be here.”
Soaking it in
By any goal measure this season has been a spectacular success for Anthony, who has firmly established himself as one of many high younger gamers within the sport.
Yet nice because it’s been, Anthony mentioned the magnitude of what he’s achieved nonetheless hasn’t sunk in.
“It will probably hit me a bit more after the season is over. I try not to keep up on it, try to stay off all the social media as much as I can,” Anthony mentioned. “It’s been a great year, there’s obviously room for improvement and things that I could have done better, so I know that and I’ll take that into next year.”
Anthony mentioned this offseason he expects to work on growing bodily, and that getting stronger, faster and sooner ought to assist him enhance in each facet of his sport. For all his early success Anthony understands he’s not a completed product, and he plans to maintain pushing till he achieves his aim of reaching the large leagues.
“I’ve learned a ton, I’ve been to three different levels now and experienced my first spring training so it’s been an awesome year,” Anthony mentioned. “It’s definitely something I’ll look back on when its the offseason and be like wow, it’s definitely a special year but there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com