BOSTON — If the primary job of a leadoff man is to get on base, then Roman Anthony is adapting to his new assignment — seemingly with ease.
Anthony was elevated to the No. 1 spot a few weeks back and quickly showed his aptitude for the role. On Saturday, in the Red Sox’ 7-5 win over the Miami Marlins, he reached base four times in five plate appearances. In so doing, he scored twice.
“I think just understanding the guys I have behind me, it makes it a lot more comfortable on me,” said Anthony. “Just trying to be perfect with getting a pitch to hit and making sure it’s something I can do damage with and not leaving it up to the guys behind me and taking my walks.”
Over the first 55 games of his career, Anthony has reached base 94 times. To put that in perspective, the only two American League player since 2000 who’ve reached more often in their first 55 games were Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki (104 times in 2001) and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez (100 times in 2019).
That’s impressive company for anyone, but especially a rookie who’s been thrust into a role with big responsibility.
“It’s great,” said Anthony, when told of the historical comparisons. “I think anytime you’re in the conversation with any of those guys, you’re doing something right. It’s even better to just get on base, score runs and help the team win.”
Anthony is also receiving plenty of praise from veteran teammates who are impressed by his impact.
“We all believe in each other,” said Anthony, “and I believe in myself. Those guys help me so much. Just hearing things like (Alex Bregman saying Friday that Anthony is already one of the best hitters in the league) is awesome. It’s a credit to (Bregman); he helps me so much. He’s working, in the lab as we say, so I credit a lot of my success and game-planning to him for the way he kind of guides me as a veteran.”
Making his major league debut has been exciting enough, but for Anthony, the chance to do it for a team in contention for the postseason makes it all the more fulfilling.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “There’s no other type of baseball I’d rather be playing. We’re winning and we’re trying to make the playoffs here and then win the division. It’s unbelievable, showing up to this park every day and how behind us the city is. It’s just a special place to come to every day and we feed off that energy and it’s fun right now.”
As a team, the Red Sox lead the major leagues in doubles. Anthony had one in the third inning Saturday, and it was of the hustle variety as the outfielder thought about stretching a line drive to the right-center gap as soon as he made contact. It was his 17th of the season.
“We’re constantly getting out of the box (quickly),” Anthony said. “We’re trying to put pressure on the defense as much as we can and we put an emphasis on that. Pre-game, we’re constantly talking about it, trying to stretch an extra 90 (feet) and really put that pressure on other teams so that they know we’re going to do everything we can to apply the pressure.
“I think for me, or for anyone, that always gets the boys going, gets everyone going, gets the stadium going. That’s how you play the game — you play the game hard and good things happen.”
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