WORCESTER—One of the things about Triple-A baseball, like it or not, is that it has more than one Opening Day.
The WooSox’s most recent one happened Tuesday night at Polar Park. Two of Boston’s Terrific Trio of prospects made their Triple-A debuts against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in a 4-3 Worcester victory.
Roman Anthony was Worcester’s starting center fielder and leadoff batter. Kyle Teel was the catcher and hit fifth. The other prospect, shortstop Marcelo Mayer, is on the roster but recovering from lower back problems.
Only two players in the the WooSox March 29 lineup on the official Opening Day in were the lineup Tuesday, neither at the same position. Chase Meidroth played shortstop and Eddy Alvarez was in right field.
The game attracted 7,922 fans. It was the third largest Tuesday night crowd in Polar Park history.
The three rookies were all promoted from Double-A Portland after excellent minor league careers.
Manager Chad Tracy made the move from Double-A to Triple-A when he was a player, so knows what the newcomers are facing.
“I told all three of the kids, this is finishing school now,” he said. “You’re talented. You got through A ball and Double-A and your talent gets you along, and now you have to do things like thinking along with the pitcher and this guy has pitched in the big leagues for three years.
“The jump from here to the big leagues is even bigger, so this piece is big for them.”
The new guys have been in the pipeline for a while. Their arrival was not unexpected, but it was unprecedented. Teel, Mayer and Anthony met with media representatives in the DCU Club before the game. That had never happened with any previous WooSox callups.
Anthony was 3 for 4 with a double in his debut, which was more than impressive. It was historic. His three at bats were double, single, single. Anthony became the first WooSox batter to begin his career with three straight hits and merely the third to have three hits in his Worcester debut.
Anthony is in good company. Bobby Dalbec did it on Sept. 7, 2022. David Hamilton had three hits on March 31, 2023. Like Anthony, it was also his first game at the Triple-A level.
Anthony led off for Worcester and doubled on the second pitch thrown by Kolby Allard, a southpaw who been in the major leagues for parts of seven seasons.
“My first at bat,” Anthony said, “I took a little awkward swing at that first pitch, then kind of took a deep breath, thought — my heartbeat feels real low right now and I feel good.”
Teel’s debut was less impressive at the plate as he went 0 for 4, but he played well defensively and demonstrated an uncanny knowledge of the strike zone by going 3 for 3 on balls-and-strikes challenges.
“I’m honestly very confident with where I am at the plate,” Teel said. “It’s one of those days that doesn’t make a difference to me. I’m gonna go out there tomorrow and nothing changes, you know, you just keep your head down and keep working hard.
“Like I said, I’m very confident with how I feel, and it was a great win tonight.”
Adding to the impact of his debut, Anthony is the youngest player in WooSox history at age 20. Triston Casas, who was 2 for 4 Tuesday with a monster home run and double, was his predecessor in that distinction. Casas was 21 in his first WooSox game on Sept. 22, 2021
Mayer has been one of those must-see prospects since being Boston’s first-round pick in the 2021 draft. He made his professional debut with the Sox’ Rookie League team in Florida that same year and has made an in-season jump up the ladder every year since.
Asked about being on the Top Prospect lists since turning pro, Mayer replied, “I’d like to say that, yes, there is pressure and it’s uncomfortable, but at the same time I don’t want to look at that as something negative by any means.
“You have to embrace that feeling.”
The prospect trio represents some traditional strength up the middle defensively, going catcher-shortstop-center fielder. That should eventually translate to fewer runs allowed, earned or otherwise, in Boston.
“As a catcher,” Teel said, “I get to see everything from back there. On balls hit up the middle, 90 percent of the time it’s an out. It’s really fun to watch because after the ball’s hit, you really become a spectator.”
The threesome arrived in the organization via three different draft years. Mayer was taken in 2021, Anthony in the second round in 2022 and Teel in the first round last year. The catcher, who played college ball at Virginia, is the first WooSox player to make it to Triple-A the season after he was drafted.
Nobody bats 1.000 in baseball. Even going 3 for 3 is tough, despite what Anthony did his first three times up Tuesday. The Red Sox are hoping that this particular class of special prospects all wind up being hits.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
