Boston Red Sox
“A man like him, you understand your cash is price it.”
If rookie outfielder Roman Anthony’s 27 extra-base hits, 32 RBI, 40 walks, and .292 batting common throughout 71 video games with the Pink Sox in 2025 weren’t spectacular sufficient to you, let David Ortiz persuade you concerning the 21-year-old’s potential.
Ortiz, a three-time World Collection champion with the Pink Sox and a member of MLB’s 500 house run membership, paid consideration to Anthony’s quick however memorable first skilled season this previous 12 months. He favored what he noticed from the previous first-round draft decide.
“When you could have a man that proficient, that younger and that mature, that’s the complete bundle,” Ortiz mentioned on the “Fenway Rundown” podcast. “You recognize you could have a face of the franchise. A man like him, you understand your cash is price it. That’s why we gave him that huge deal out of the gate, straight away, as a result of he’s price that a lot.”
Boston certainly selected to offer Anthony an eight-year, $130 million contract extension two months after he made his MLB debut this previous summer season.
Anthony, born in 2004, performed each nook outfield positions and designated hitter, and instantly made an impression upon getting known as up from Triple-A Worcester on June 9. Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants shortly after Anthony made his debut, and Anthony stuffed the void offensively straight away.
Anthony usually led off Boston’s lineup as soon as he settled into the large leagues; he debuted batting fifth.
With out Anthony, particularly following the bombshell Devers commerce and Alex Bregman’s prolonged quad harm mid-season, it’s onerous to examine the Pink Sox making the playoffs with out him in Boston. It’s additionally simple to marvel if a wholesome Anthony would have helped the staff advance previous the Yankees within the Wild Card Collection (Anthony’s season was reduce quick in September as a result of an indirect harm). His transient but impactful season landed him a third-place American League Rookie of the Year finish earlier this week.
Though Anthony fared simply tremendous in his first MLB motion, Ortiz mentioned he desires the previous No. 1 prospect to know that he’s only a cellphone name or textual content away if he wants recommendation.
“It’s like I informed [Anthony], something you want, any dialog you need to have about being a left-handed batter, simply let me know. Simply holler at your boy,” Ortiz informed The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham and Alex Speier. “He seems to be like a stud.”
Ortiz is the daddy of a Pink Sox prospect, 21-year-old D’Angelo Ortiz, who was drafted by the group within the nineteenth spherical of the 2024 MLB Draft. The youthful Ortiz is at the moment on the Single-A stage of the minor league system.
The elder Ortiz mentioned he is aware of what it feels wish to be happy with a younger ballplayer within the household, like Anthony’s kin.
“I obtained to satisfy him, along with his dad and mom this 12 months,” Ortiz mentioned. “What a fantastic household. He has a brother he simply seems to be like. His mother and pop are a proud mother and pop proper now. I might be too. His mentality and his focus, it’s not from a 21-year-old man. Belief me.”
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