Red Sox Top Prospect Roman Anthony Makes Unfortunate Error in MLB Debut

Baseball's top prospect Roman Anthony made his MLB debut Monday night at Fenway Park after the Boston Red Sox called him up from Triple A Worcester.

The 21-year-old outfielder batted fifth for Boston and started in right field mere hours after his big league call-up in the opener of a three-game weekday series with the Tampa Bay Rays. He received a huge ovation as he walked to the plate for his first Major League at-bat.

He certainly felt some debut jitters, though, as he made a rough error in the top of the fifth inning that brought in a run for the Rays. Rays designated hitter Yandy Diaz smacked a liner to the opposite field, heading straight toward Anthony in right. As he went to field the ball, it went right under his glove and all the way back toward the shallow Fenway Park wall in right.

Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe made it all the way around from first to score and widen Tampa Bay's lead to 3–0. Diaz made it to third because of the error, but he was stranded there.

Anthony was a second-round pick (No. 79 overall) in the 2022 MLB draft. He quickly rose through the minors and joins Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell—the other two prospects seen as the future of the Red Sox—in the big leagues. Anthony played 58 games this season for Triple A Worcester, where he hit .288 with 10 home runs and 29 RBI, including a 497-foot grand slam as his most recent long ball.

Monday had to be a heck of a whirlwind for Anthony—getting the call and starting a game at Fenway hours later, in the rain nonetheless. A welcome to the league moment—he'll get in front of the next one.

More MLB on Sports Illustrated