The people of Worcester, Mass., will be talking about the home run hit Saturday night by Roman Anthony, the No. 1 prospect in baseball, for a long time.
The 21-year-old Anthony stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning, his Triple-A Worcester Red Sox up 5-4 with the bases loaded against the Rochester Red Wings (Washington Nationals affiliate). He jumped on the 2-2 pitch, a 91.1 mph sinker from right-hander Carlos Romero that sailed 497 feet for the longest homer in the minor leagues this season.
Or in the majors.
In fact, only four homers have traveled that far since 2015 – all hit by major leaguers, two of them off the bats of former Most Valuable Players Giancarlo Stanton (504 feet in 2016) and Christian Yelich (499 feet in 2022), according to MLB.com.
The longest home run hit this season at any level had been the 484-footer that another former MVP – Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels – hit on April 19.
Anthony watched the flight of the grand slam ball, which left the bat at 115.6 mph, from home plate only briefly. Romero didn’t turn around, knowing when the ball left the bat that his defense had no shot of making a play.
Nick Sogard followed with a solo homer to give the WooSox a 10-4 victory.
“Got it and didn’t really miss it,” Anthony said, according to the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester. “So, it felt great.”
WooSox manager summed up the shot this way: “That ball was murdered.”
It was the second grand slam this season for Anthony, who now has a batting line of .290/.421/.495/.916. He has 10 home runs and 29 RBIs in 57 games and has scored 44 times.
The feat didn’t surprise Tracy.
“The dugout went crazy,” the manager said. “When he comes to the plate in those moments, you feel like he’s going to do something special.”
The blast hit at Polar Park likely will only intensify the debate about whether it’s time for Anthony, an outfielder, to move to Fenway Park. Boston fans have been itching for the Red Sox to call up the 2022 second-round draft pick, especially as the team falls further behind the New York Yankees in the American League East.
The Red Sox and Yankees meet Sunday in the finale of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium, with Boston 9.5 games out of first place.
‘THAT IS INSANE!’: Marcelo Mayer really, really liked his bobblehead. CLICK HERE
FUTURES GAME: An Atlanta Braves icon will manage the National League minor leaguers in the Futures Game in July. CLICK HERE
NO HITS FOR YOU: Jonah Tong came one out short of throwing a solo perfect game earlier this season. On Wednesday, he pitched five hitless innings. CLICK HERE
