New York-the first time that Boston's red socks visited the Yankee Stadium this season, Roman Anthony was in Worcester, Massachusetts, hitting triple-a launching less than a month after his birthday number 21. On June 7, the night when the red socks beat the Yankees 10-7 Red Wings, his tenth homer of the season.
Two days later, Anthony was an important league player. And this week, on the next trip of the Red Sox to Bronx, the Zurdo Slugger was presented aloud in the most historical rivalry of baseball with a two -run moon on the second deck in the Yankee Stadium with an appropriate batting flip in Boston's victory.
The ability to know the moment surprised any of his teammates. Ask any member of the red socks about Anthony and three themes arise: their immense talent, their quiet confidence and a rare eaves of the eaves for someone who could not drink legally until May 13.
“It is probably the most mature 21 years, in terms of baseball, I have been in my life,” said the third base of the Red Sox, Alex Bregman. “The moment is never too big for him.”
This unusual combination led the Red Sox to give an eight -year contract extension earlier this month, with a value of $ 130 million more guaranteed the mechanical stairs that could increase the total value to $ 230 million. The obvious solidified with that agreement: Anthony has the potential to be the next local superstar of the red socks, and the best of a promising group that includes the best prospects Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell. The organization is betting on it to become the long -term cornerstone that Rafael Devers never did, despite its own 10 -year contract and $ 313.5 million.
Anthony entered the batting on Friday .286 and an OPS of .852 in 59 games are mainly divided between the right and left garden. It has solidified during the last month as the initial batter of the team with a percentage based on .405, exceeding the high internal expectations of the organization. Under the hood, its success rate, the average output speed and the persecution rate suggest aloud that is far from being a fluible start.
“I think a way to do it would be to look at our record since it has been here,” said baseball operations, Craig Breslow, when he was recently asked to evaluate Anthony's performance.
The red socks are 37-24 since their debut, a change that has also been fed by an initially improved initial launch and Bregman's return on the injured list, even when the organization surprised the world of baseball by exchanging Devers to the San Francisco giants. The buzz is back in Fenway Park, where the red socks are 24-8 since June 10. Fans's expectations are high after three consecutive October three.
“What is crazy is that it does not seem to be 21 years old,” said the coach of blows from the red socks, Pete Fatse. “It seems he has been in the big leagues for a long time.”
Anthony had been in the big leagues for six weeks when Bregman, a baseball rat that worked during his tenth season, took him to the video room in Citizens Bank Park for a study session before the red socks completed a series of three games against the Philadelphia philis last month.
Anthony defended himself, with an OPS of .755 in his first 36 games as a great player despite the first two weeks. But he told his coaches that he was still uncomfortable against left -handed pitchers at this level. The red socks noticed that a mechanical adjustment was potentially necessary, but were ready to cover that, maybe even until the low season to avoid overwhelming it. Instead, on Wednesday of July in Philadelphia was handled, the day after he struck four times against the left-handed philis All-Star Cristopher Sánchez.
“In Philadelphia, he felt he was exposed a bit,” Breslow said.
Before the end of the series, Bregman took a video of the best batters from left to left of the elders as determined by Woba: Shhehei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker. Bregman, along with Fatse and the Batery Assistant coach Dillon Lawson, dissected the stars' positions for an hour with a question for Anthony: What do these guys have in common?
They broke the lateral view of their swings. They analyzed the releases they covered and the releases they were driving. The connection was obvious: they all remain behind baseball, allowing them more time to make the right decision and attack. For Anthony to imitate them constantly, he would have to adjust his hands in his batting posture, moving them back from the front. The adjustment would minimize the process from the load to the launch and reduce the possibilities of their hands being attached behind it.
“The movements I was doing are not practical against the arms we faced,” said Anthony. “I was too passing.”
After an hour of watching video, Anthony went to the batting cage to test the adjustment. Bregman recorded him on his phone. Anthony swing for an hour. The change felt strange.
“Balls are needed, brother,” Bregman said. “He has balls. He has confidence, the ability to want to be great and, since he wants to be great, he is willing to do whatever it takes to take him to the next level. He was playing well at that time and did not matter.”
Before the adjustment, Anthony had published only one .560 OPS in 48 appearances on the plate against left -handed. Since then, its PAHO, in 31 pas against left -handed, is 1,176. In general, he is hitting .329 with three of his five home runs this season, six doubles and an OPS of .992 in that period.
On Friday night, Anthony, with his hands back, pounced in a first slide of the Yankees reliever, Yerry de los Santos, in this case, a right hand, in the ninth entrance, globulating the leadership of the red socks. The explosion prompted a massive exodus of Yankees fans. With three remaining games in the series, they had already seen Anthony enough.
