The 21-year-old Red Sox outfielder goes 2-for-4 with two RBI and two walks as the Americans overwhelm Brazil 15-5.
For a player who is still just 21 years old, Roman Anthony doesn’t seem particularly intimidated by big stages.
The rising Boston Red Sox outfielder showed that again Friday night in his debut at the World Baseball Classic, turning in a productive performance as Team USA rolled to a 15-5 win over Team Brazil in pool play at Daikin Park in Houston.
Anthony started in left field and hit seventh in a lineup stacked with major league stars. By the end of the night, he had gone 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, 2 walks and 2 runs scored, contributing to an offensive outburst that quickly overwhelmed Brazil’s pitching staff.
The Americans didn’t need much help generating offense - Brazil issued 17 walks in the contest - but Anthony still found ways to make his presence felt in key moments.
His first big swing came in the eighth inning.
With the U.S. already holding a lead, Anthony lined an RBI single that scored Aaron Judge and stretched the advantage to 8-4. An inning later, he added another run-scoring hit as the Americans erupted for seven runs in the ninth to seal the victory.
The performance placed Anthony comfortably in the middle of a lineup that also featured an early two-run homer from Judge and a three-run double from Brice Turang.
Mar 3, 2026; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Team USA outfielder Roman Anthony against the San Francisco Giants during a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)Even within that collection of established stars, Anthony’s presence wasn’t an accident.
The young outfielder earned his place on the U.S. roster after an impressive first extended run in the majors with Boston. In just 71 games last season, Anthony posted a .292/.396/.493 slash line and produced 2.7 fWAR, a combination of on-base ability and emerging power that quickly made him one of the most intriguing young players in all of baseball.
That performance also helped earn him a call to represent the United States in the international tournament - a moment he admitted still feels surreal.
With Team USA chasing a championship after falling to Team Japan in the 2023 final, Anthony now finds himself part of a roster built to chase redemption.
For a player barely removed from his rookie season, the assignment is a big one.
But if Friday’s debut was any indication, Roman Anthony doesn’t appear overwhelmed by it.
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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.