Boston Red Sox
“A guy like him, you know your money is worth it.”
If rookie outfielder Roman Anthony’s 27 extra-base hits, 32 RBI, 40 walks, and .292 batting average across 71 games with the Red Sox in 2025 weren’t impressive enough to you, let David Ortiz convince you about the 21-year-old’s potential.
Ortiz, a three-time World Series champion with the Red Sox and a member of MLB’s 500 home run club, paid attention to Anthony’s short but memorable first professional season this past year. He liked what he saw from the former first-round draft pick.
“When you have a guy that talented, that young and that mature, that’s the full package,” Ortiz said on the “Fenway Rundown” podcast. “You know you have a face of the franchise. A guy like him, you know your money is worth it. That’s why we gave him that big deal out of the gate, right away, because he’s worth that much.”
Boston indeed chose to give Anthony an eight-year, $130 million contract extension two months after he made his MLB debut this past summer.
Anthony, born in 2004, played both corner outfield positions and designated hitter, and immediately made an impact upon getting called up from Triple-A Worcester on June 9. Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants shortly after Anthony made his debut, and Anthony filled the void offensively right away.
Anthony often led off Boston’s lineup once he settled into the big leagues; he debuted batting fifth.
Without Anthony, especially following the bombshell Devers trade and Alex Bregman’s lengthy quad injury mid-season, it’s hard to envision the Red Sox making the playoffs without him in Boston. It’s also easy to wonder if a healthy Anthony would have helped the team advance past the Yankees in the Wild Card Series (Anthony’s season was cut short in September due to an oblique injury). His brief yet impactful season landed him a third-place American League Rookie of the Year finish earlier this week.
Although Anthony fared just fine in his first MLB action, Ortiz said he wants the former No. 1 prospect to know that he’s just a phone call or text away if he needs advice.
“It’s like I told [Anthony], anything you need, any conversation you want to have about being a left-handed batter, just let me know. Just holler at your boy,” Ortiz told The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham and Alex Speier. “He looks like a stud.”
Ortiz is the father of a Red Sox prospect, 21-year-old D’Angelo Ortiz, who was drafted by the organization in the 19th round of the 2024 MLB Draft. The younger Ortiz is currently at the Single-A level of the minor league system.
The elder Ortiz said he knows what it feels like to be proud of a young ballplayer in the family, like Anthony’s kin.
“I got to meet him, with his parents this year,” Ortiz said. “What a beautiful family. He has a brother he just looks like. His mom and dad are a proud mom and dad right now. I would be too. His mentality and his focus, it’s not from a 21-year-old guy. Trust me.”
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