Pax Romana - A Look at Roman Anthony's Major League Debut
The third member of the Triumvirate of Red Sox Prospects has arrived. So how'd he look?
In his first at-bat, Roman Anthony looked composed. He approached the plate with confidence, walking out to MGMT’s “Electric Feel” with the swagger of a veteran who’d been preparing for this moment his whole life. In reality, he’s a 21-year-old kid who practically found out he’d be making his Major League debut right as he stepped into Fenway. Unlike some of his baby-faced peers (Jackson Holliday – I’m looking at you), Anthony looks like a man. Standing at 6’3”, he’s got a large frame that brings power effortlessly to the plate.
We all waited eagerly to see the outcome. With a runner at first and no outs, we were ready to watch the birth of the new Roman Empire. After taking a ball outside, he swung at a high fastball and flew out to shallow left field. And I was ecstatic. Why? The sound.
Everyone knew that Roman Anthony was good. The guy’s as much of a sure thing as a baseball prospect can be. His surface numbers in AAA were fantastic and his metrics were somehow even better, landing somewhere in the 90-to-99th percentiles in exit velocity, barrel percentage, chase rate, walks, and many other categories. He didn’t even strike out all that much, despite having a very low swing percentage on balls in the zone. And for those of you old heads who prefer to hear about counting stats, try these on for size: He was slashing .288/.423/.491 with 10 home runs and a whopping 51 walks to 56 strikeouts. And he was looking good while doing it.
In the fourth inning, he saw his second at-bat. He took a changeup outside before fouling away a 97.7 mph fastball in the zone. He took another changeup low and in the dirt for ball two before absolutely smoking a 98.2 mph fastball right back at opposing pitcher Shane Baz. The exit velocity was 111.2 mph (and carried a .600 expected batting average, or xBA). The good news: No one was hurt. The bad news? Baz deflected it right into Junior Caminero, who threw it to first base for the out.
When he came up for a third time, the Sox were trailing 3-1 in the sixth inning. With two men on and only one out, Anthony had a chance to do some damage. Now facing Garrett Cleavinger, Anthony quickly found himself behind in the count after a called strike and a swinging strike came fast on a pair of sinkers. He spit on a sweeper outside the zone for ball one, but ended up staring at another one that snapped right into the center of the zone for strike three looking. An ugly K on a big league pitch. Welcome to the Majors, kid.
Prior to Anthony stepping into the batter’s box for the fourth time of the night, a lot had happened. Both sides had scored more runs to bring the game to a close 6-5 affair that was favoring Tampa Bay. With two outs and a man on first, Roman Anthony had a chance to be a hero. He would be challenged by Manuel Rodriguez, who would curiously throw six straight sliders to the Boston rookie. The first two missed badly, one inside and one low. The third one caught the zone, and the fourth looked like it could have gone either way, but catcher Danny Jansen did a good job framing it as a called strike. With a 2-2 count, Anthony took ball 3 near his feet as Trevor Story stole a base. With a full count and a man in scoring position, anything could happen. And with a ball in the dirt, Roman Anthony reached base.
“It was just a walk!” I hear you saying. And you’re right, it is just a walk. And I think that’s what impresses me. In that moment, everybody in the building wanted to see Anthony send that ball into the stands like a scene from a movie - undoubtedly, no one more than Roman Anthony. But this kid, cool as a cucumber, took six straight sliders without swinging once to simply get on base and give the guy behind him a chance. Tell me how many rookies will do that in their first game.
When Anthony came up in the ninth for his fifth and final time of the night, you could not have asked for a bigger situation. Rafael Devers and Abraham Toro had reached base on a walk and a double respectively. Trevor Story had flown out to right field, keeping Devers held up on third and giving the rookie a chance to walk it off. Trailing 7-5 with one out and two men in scoring position, Anthony would face a bug-eyed Pete Fairbanks, who had come out to end the eighth and stayed in to try and close out the ninth for the first time this year. After taking a slider down the zone for strike one, Anthony knocked the next one up the middle and into the glove of a shifted-over Taylor Walls. While it resulted in an out and could’ve, in another situation, led to a double play (although it did carry an xBA of .410), it instead scored a run, pulling the Red Sox closer and giving the kid his first Major League RBI. Fellow prospect phenom Kristian Campbell would single soon after to tie the game and send it into extras.
Anthony was due to come up once more in the bottom of the eleventh inning, after the Rays had exploited the unfortunate fact that Zack Kelly was pitching for the Sox. Trailing in a 10-8 game, the kid was set to lead off. Alex Cora had other plans, however, and decided to look to Rob Refsnyder as a pinch hitter. He’d get a walk, but the Sox would ultimately fail to finish their comeback.
As for his fielding, that’s another story. In the top of the fifth, Anthony went to casually scoop up a grounder that had left the infield only for it to go right under his glove. This resulted in a run scoring and Anthony being charged with his first Major League error. He fits right in with the rest of the team in that regard. But I won’t let the defensive silliness put a damper on my mood, nor the fact that the Sox would fall short in extras for yet another close loss 10-8. If for some impossible-to-conceive-of reason you haven’t been paying attention to Roman Anthony, it’s time to start. Sit back and enjoy the show. It’s just getting started.