Roman Anthony keeps posting stats that link him to Ted Williams, other baseball legends
"His approach is his approach. If you don’t throw it in the zone, he’s not going to swing most of the time."
Roman Anthony made his anticipated big-league debut in June, with the Red Sox outfielder arriving in Boston with plenty of lofty expectations as the top prospect in baseball.
But for all that hype, the 21-year-old rookie has seemingly exceeded expectations through his 53 games with the Red Sox.
How so? Putting himself in the same company as Ted Williams on a few Red Sox records is a good start.
Obviously, Anthony has a long way to go to come close to the offensive juggernaut that a baseball legend like Williams was.
But Anthony’s keen eye at the plate and advanced hitting approach at such a young age has allowed him to be put in rarefied air just a little two months into his big-league career.
During Tuesday’s win over the Astros, Anthony was 1-for-2 at the plate with a 428-foot solo shot in the eighth inning. But he also worked four walks out of the leadoff spot for Boston — setting the table for a Red Sox lineup that ended up scoring 14 runs in a lopsided victory.
Anthony’s four walks mark the first time a Red Sox player has accomplished that feat in a single game since Kyle Schwarber in 2021. But at just 21 years and 91 days, Anthony is the youngest Red Sox hitter to also homer in a four-walk game since Williams accomplished the feat on Sept. 20, 1939.
In fact, Anthony is the third-youngest player in MLB history to homer in a four-walk game, with only Hall-of-Famer Mel Ott (20 years, 124 days) submitting a similar stat line at a younger age. The fourth-youngest player to post a similar box score? Barry Bonds (22 years, 37 days) in 1986.
Pretty good company.
Anthony found himself linked to Williams via another stat featured during NESN’s broadcast Tuesday — with the rookie becoming the first Red Sox player since “The Splendid Splinter” to post 20-plus extra-base hits and 20-plus walks in his first 51 career games.
Entering Wednesday’s game against Houston (a game where Anthony went 0-for-4), Anthony was sporting a .406 on-base percentage through 52 games.
According to Boston’s media notes, that’s the fourth-best on-base percentage of any player since 1950 through 52 career games — with only Willie McCovey (.429), Albert Pujols (.416), and Juan Soto (.413) ahead of him.
Before Wednesday, Anthony sported the second-highest on-base percentage, third-highest batting average and 10th-highest OPS in the majors. It’s a far cry from the growing pains Anthony felt at the start of his MLB career, with the youngster batting just .114 through his first 15 games with Boston.
Even though the Red Sox closed out this road trip against San Diego and Houston with a 2-4 record, Alex Cora has been impressed with the immediate impact that Anthony has provided in such a short amount of time.
“That swing on the homer was impressive,” Cora said Tuesday. “Not too many people go deep [at Houston’s Daikin Park] in that part of the ballpark. Just not getting away from — his game plan is his game plan.
“His approach is his approach. If you don’t throw it in the zone, he’s not going to swing most of the time. … “Man, we pinch hit for him in the first game of his career. Who was the dumb [expletive] who did that?”
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