A heckler chanted “overrated” with Roman Anthony at the plate in the fifth inning during the Spring Breakout game between the Red Sox and Rays at Charlotte Sports Park on Thursday.
Anthony, the No. 2 prospect on Baseball America’s Top 100 list, promptly launched a missile over the right field wall.
Red Sox' Roman Anthony hits a solo home run in the fifth inning during the Spring Breakout game between the Red Sox prospects and Rays prospects at Charlotte Sports Park on Thursday. (Photo by Kelly Gavin/MLB Photos via Getty Images)MLB Photos via Getty Images
Anthony’s homer left his bat at 110 mph in a 7-5 loss to the Rays.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that this spring,” Anthony said. “So it’s always funny. But it’s part of it.”
He considers it a compliment.
“I think so. I think if they’re saying something it’s always a good thing if you’re relevant,” Anthony said.
Kristian Campbell was on deck and heard the heckler.
“That was sick,” Campbell said about Anthony going deep.
Campbell said that’s “definitely not the first time” a heckler has done that to Anthony.
“It’s happened a couple times in Triple A,” Campbell added.
The heckler also had chanted “overrated” at Anthony earlier in the game.
How did this one feel compared to the 116 mph homer Anthony blasted for Double-A Portland last July 31? That one marked the hardest hit ball in the organization in 2024.
“It wasn’t quite as hard,” Anthony said. “We had the stuff (Statcast data) in there. I just lost 10 pounds though so who knows? Who knows what would have happened?”
Anthony was sick with the same illness that has struck several Red Sox players during spring training.
Asked if he’s impressed he can hit a ball that hard after losing 10 pounds, Anthony replied, “Um. Not really. No. But if I had the 10 pounds maybe it would have been harder than the one I hit last year.”
Each of the Big Three homered. Campbell and Marcelo Mayer bashed back-to-back home runs in the third inning to put the Red Sox ahead 3-0.
Campbell went opposite field to right-center.
“Most of my power is gap to gap, middle part of the field,” Campbell said. “I just try to hit the ball hard and in the air and good things happen.”
Anthony added, “I’ve seen that.”
