WORCESTER, Mass. — No wonder Boston Red Sox fans are clamoring for Roman Anthony to be called up from the minors.
The Red Sox’s No. 1 ranked prospect hammered a grand slam over the right-center field wall at Polar Park to put an exclamation point on Triple-A Worcester’s 10-4 win over the Rochester Red Wings.
The blast traveled 497 feet and exited his bat at 115.6 miles per hour.
According to Statcast, that was the longest home run in affiliated baseball this season and would have been longer than all but four home runs in the major leagues since Statcast started tracking in 2015.
‘That ball was murdered,’ WooSox manager Chad Tracy said.
‘Got it and didn’t really miss it,’ Anthony said. ‘So it felt great.’
A day after baseball’s No. 1 overall prospect got a rare day off (he had started 33 consecutive games for the WooSox dating back to April 27), Anthony was a bit snake-bitten at the plate Saturday.
Following a walk and a strikeout in his first two plate appearances, Anthony ripped a 105 mph line-out to first base and a 104 mph line-out to left field.
‘I swung it well today,’ said Anthony, who is hitting .290 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs in 57 games with Worcester.
‘His at-bats were great all night,’ Tracy said.
Yet, in his final at-bat, Anthony made sure nobody could catch it.
His near 500-foot homer marked Anthony’s second grand slam of the season. The blast turned Worcester’s one-run lead into a five-run advantage en route to a season-high sixth consecutive win for the Triple-A club.
‘The dugout went crazy,’ Tracy said. ‘When he comes to the plate in those moments, you feel like he’s going to do something special.’
Asked where his latest homer ranked among his top hits with Worcester, the 21-year-old outfielder didn’t hesitate.
‘That’s probably it right there,’ Anthony said.