Roman Anthony

Roman Anthony
Boston Red Sox – No. 19
Outfielder
Born: (2004-05-13) May 13, 2004
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 9, 2025, for the Boston Red Sox
MLB statistics
(through July 7, 2025)
Batting average.250
Home runs2
Runs batted in11
Teams

Roman Joseph Anthony (born May 13, 2004) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2025.

Amateur career

Anthony attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.[1] He committed to play college baseball at Ole Miss after his sophomore year.[2] He was named the Broward County 7-A Player of the Year by the Sun Sentinel after hitting for a .363 batting average with five home runs, six doubles, and 22 runs batted in (RBIs) with 26 stolen bases and 32 runs scored.[3] As a senior, Anthony batted .520 with 52 hits, 14 doubles, 10 home runs, 40 RBIs, and 36 runs scored and repeated as the Broward 7-A Player of the Year.[4] He was also named the Gatorade Florida Player of the Year and Florida Mr. Baseball.[5][6] Earlier in the season, Anthony had seven hits in 15 at bats with four stolen bases in the National High School Invitational as the Eagles won the tournament.[7]

Professional career

Anthony was considered a top prospect for the 2022 MLB draft,[8] and was selected 79th overall by the Boston Red Sox.[9] He signed with the team and received an over-slot signing bonus of $2.5 million.[10] After signing, Anthony was assigned to the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Red Sox to begin his professional career.[11] He was later promoted to the Salem Red Sox of the Single-A Carolina League.[12]

Anthony returned to Salem at the beginning of the 2023 season.[13] He batted .228 with one home run and 18 RBIs in 42 games played with Salem and was promoted to the High-A Greenville Drive.[14] Anthony was promoted a second time to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs after hitting .294 with 12 home runs, 38 RBIs, and 41 runs scored in 54 games played with Greenville.[15] He finished the season with a .272 batting average and 14 home runs with 64 RBIs and 78 runs scored.[16] Anthony was recognized as the Red Sox' minor-league hitter of the year for 2023.[17]

Anthony began the 2024 season with Portland, ranked as the Red Sox' number two minor-league prospect by Baseball America.[18] In August, he was promoted to the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, along with fellow-prospects Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel.[19] At the time of his promotion, Anthony had posted a .269/.367/.489 slash line with Portland.[19] In September, Anthony was named the top prospect in baseball by Baseball America, replacing Junior Caminero due to the latter's time on a major-league roster.[20]

The Red Sox invited Anthony to 2025 spring training.[21] He was assigned to Worcester to begin the season, slashing .288/.423/.491 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. On June 7, 2025, Anthony belted a 497-foot grand slam home run against the Rochester Red Wings, which was the longest blast in professional baseball to that point in the year.[22] On June 9, Anthony made his major-league debut for Boston, going hitless in four at-bats with an RBI groundout against the Tampa Bay Rays.[23] At age 21 years and 27 days, Anthony was the youngest Red Sox player to make his debut since Rafael Devers, who debuted at age 20 years and 274 days.[24] On June 10, Anthony's uniform number was changed from 48 to 19. The same day, Anthony recorded his first MLB hit, a two-RBI double in the first inning off of Rays pitcher Ryan Pepiot.[25] Anthony's first career home run with the Boston Red Sox was on June 16, 2025 against the Seattle Mariners.[26]

References

  1. ^ Panizo, Franco (May 20, 2022). "Jake Clemente, Roman Anthony lead Stoneman Douglas back to 7A baseball state final with rain-delayed win over Hagerty". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  2. ^ Gabler, Nate (June 24, 2020). "Ole Miss Baseball Lands One of the Top Hitters in the 2022 Class". SI.com. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  3. ^ Lichtenstein, Adam (June 19, 2021). "Broward 7A-6A baseball player of the year: Roman Anthony, Stoneman Douglas junior". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  4. ^ "Broward 7A-6A baseball player of the year: Roman Anthony". Sun Sentinel. June 18, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  5. ^ "Stoneman Douglas' Roman Anthony named Florida Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year". Miami Herald. June 3, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  6. ^ "Roman Anthony & Todd Fitz-Gerald of Douglas win baseball awards. Plus softball & track honors". Miami Herald. June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  7. ^ Mayo, Jonathan (April 10, 2022). "A look at the best performers at the 2022 NHSI". MLB.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  8. ^ "July's MLB Draft features two potential first-rounders from South Florida". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
  9. ^ Vautour, Matt (July 18, 2022). "Red Sox select Roman Anthony at No. 79 in compensation round of MLB draft". MassLive.com. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  10. ^ "Red Sox reach agreement with 2022 draft pick Roman Anthony". Boston Globe. July 18, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  11. ^ Campbell, Lauren (August 16, 2022). "Red Sox Draft Pick Roman Anthony Off To Great Start In FCL". NESN. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  12. ^ Doyle, Ricky (February 16, 2023). "Red Sox Prospect Outlook: Is Roman Anthony Breakout Candidate For 2023?". NESN. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  13. ^ Smith, Christopher (April 5, 2023). "Red Sox's 2023 breakout prospect candidate joins Marcelo Mayer, Blaze Jordan at Greenville". MassLive.com. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  14. ^ "The Red Sox' Roman Anthony has gone from a relatively unheralded high school prospect to one of the fastest-rising in the minor leagues". The Boston Globe. July 21, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  15. ^ "Top Red Sox prospects Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel promoted to Sea Dogs". Portland Press Herald. September 5, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  16. ^ Ryan, Conor (September 18, 2023). "Keith Law: Red Sox' Roman Anthony 'might be the biggest breakout prospect' in baseball". Boston.com. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  17. ^ Speier, Alex (September 26, 2023). "Minor league honors offer Red Sox chance to reflect on their developing homegrown pitching pipeline". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  18. ^ Speier, Alex (April 1, 2024). "A look at the Red Sox' full-season minor league affiliates and the top prospects at each level". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  19. ^ a b Speier, Alex (August 14, 2024). "Why the Red Sox' Big Three were promoted to Triple A together, and why the pressure is on". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  20. ^ Speier, Alex (September 11, 2024), "Red Sox minor leaguer Roman Anthony named No. 1 MLB prospect by Baseball America", The Boston Globe, retrieved September 12, 2024
  21. ^ "Roman Anthony, 20, among invitees to Red Sox spring training". ESPN.com. January 28, 2025. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  22. ^ "Red Sox prospect Anthony hits longest HR of '25". ESPN.com. June 8, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  23. ^ Silverman, Blake (June 9, 2025). "Red Sox Top Prospect Roman Anthony Makes Unfortunate Error in MLB Debut". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
  24. ^ "Top prospect Anthony goes hitless in MLB debut". ESPN.com. June 10, 2025. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  25. ^ "Rays vs. Red Sox (Jun 10, 2025) Live Score". ESPN. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  26. ^ Browne, Ian. "Touch 'em all, Roman! Top prospect hammers first career home run". MLB.com. Retrieved June 17, 2025.

Further reading