Anthony shows a lot of muscle out of leadoff spot at Triple-A
Roman Anthony has made quite the splash seven games into his tenure at Triple-A.
Literally. MLB's No. 14 prospect launched his first home run for the Worcester Red Sox and it landed in the Elizabeth River. That highlighted Anthony's first four-hit night at the level in Tuesday's 8-5 win over Norfolk at Harbor Park.
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Anthony lofted his latest long ball, his 16th of the season, while scoring a season-high four runs and tying his season bests in hits and RBIs (three) from the top spot in the WooSox lineup.
Boston's second-ranked prospect has put together several strong showings in his brief time with the WooSox. He collected three hits in his Triple-A debut and reached base four times on Sunday. In between, the Florida native went 0-for-15 with three strikeouts, but that all adds up to a .333/.379/.556 slash line.
And that's all from the youngest player in the International League at 20 years, 3 months and 7 days old.
Three of Anthony's five batted balls qualified as hard-hit at 95 mph or higher, but his first was tipped off the end of the bat at just 51.6 mph, a slow roller that was perfectly placed down the third-base line, an early signal of the big night to come.
Anthony's home run came one inning later in the second when he jumped on a 2-2 slider by Tides left-hander Bruce Zimmermann (Orioles) that hung over the plate. Anthony crushed the ball 415 feet at 108 mph -- his hardest-hit ball yet at Triple-A -- and right fielder Daniel Johnson hardly had to move. The 2022 supplemental second-round pick added a single through the right side in the fourth and a looping double to left in the eighth to round out his day.
Anthony wasn't the only top Red Sox prospect to show out on Tuesday. In his Triple-A debut, Kristian Campbell (BOS No. 5/MLB No. 79) drove in three runs, including plating Anthony twice on singles in the first and fourth.