When the Boston Red Sox called up Roman Anthony, the hype was overwhelming. Anthony was widely considered to among the top prospects in baseball (if not the best) at the time and it seemed impossible that he could ever live up to Red Sox fans' expectations. We are now 63 games into Anthony's career and not only has he met those expectations, but he is already setting franchise records.
After 270 plate appearances in his rookie season, Anthony has hit six homers. However, it was not until Monday night that he had hit a leadoff home run. When he connected for that leadoff bomb off Tomoyuki Sugano of the Orioles, he became the youngest player to do so in Red Sox history. Given the baseball luminaries that have suited up for Boston, that is pretty wild.
Anthony was told after the game that he had made that unique history, his response was delightfully real and priceless.
“That’s pretty cool. That’s good. I like that. Sweet. Thanks for letting me know. That’s great.”
— NESN (@NESN) August 26, 2025
Roman Anthony after finding out he’s the youngest player in @RedSox history to hit a leadoff homer 😅 pic.twitter.com/2Ky9xwdCxd
Roman Anthony's response to setting Red Sox record helps explain why he is quickly becoming a fan favorite
Too often, young players are extensively coached on how to answer the media's questions and end up not revealing much about themselves or their personalities. However, not only did Anthony explain how his previous experience against Sugano informed his game plan in that at-bat, but he did not even pretend that he wasn't giddy about setting the record and seemingly had no idea. The smile was real, the reaction was organic, and it was just great.
Becoming a fan favorite can happen a lot of ways. Performing well while not being a miserable human being is the easiest path, but there are a host of players from history that never became stars but had big moments or big personalities that made fans love them even though they were only decent middle relievers or a bench bat that delivered in an important spot.
Somehow, Anthony is checking all of the boxes so far in his young career. He is among the Rookie of the Year favorites behind Nick Kurtz, is widely considered to be a future star, and comes across as a grounded, humble person who loves playing in Boston. Hopefully Red Sox fans understand just how lucky they are that Anthony signed the extension he did, because he is trending towards being a crucial piece of franchise history, and we aren't just talking about the leadoff home run age record.