BOSTON—There could be worse things than having Mikey Romero and Roman Anthony exist in parallel lives for the Red Sox.
Both players were early picks in the 2022 draft. Romero went in the first round, Anthony in the second. They have both moved up rapidly through the organization and both played in Worcester last season, Anthony early in the year, Romero later.
Anthony already has a lot of fans. Romero is one of his biggest.
“I love watching Roman Anthony hit,” Romero said during a visit to Fenway Park last week. “He’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen. His body moves in a very special way.”
Observing good hitters is a big part of how Romero, a left-handed batter, approaches the science of his profession.
“I feel like I’ve had the same swing since I was young,” he said. “My stance has changed a little bit but the swing itself has been very similar. There are guys I see in the big leagues I try to emulate, especially guys who are successful.”
When Romero joined the WooSox last season he became the eighth first-round pick by Boston to play in Worcester. Six of the other seven made the major leagues. The only outlier is southpaw pitcher Jay Groome.
Romero was promoted from Portland at the end of July and played his first Triple-A games on Aug. 1, a doubleheader versus Lehigh Valley at Polar Park. He was 0 for 6 in the two games, then went 0 for 4 on Aug. 2. It was not an auspicious debut, going 0 for 11.
That changed on Aug. 4 with a 3 for 5 game that included two homers and six RBIs. Even so, Romero’s batting average was south of .200 for his first 17 games with the WooSox.
“I feel like this past year when I got to Triple-A, those first 10 days weren’t very good,” he said. “I struck out a lot. I was chasing a lot and I think that I was going up there trying to do too much
“Then I began to come to the plate wth a plan. That’s when I started seeing success. It was my first time in pro baseball where things were a challenge and I had to make adjustments.”
Romero turned out to be a quick learner.
By the end of the season his average was up to .232. It was one of those better-than-it-looks numbers. Romero was extremely productive. Of his 41 hits, 24 were for extra bases. He had 36 RBIs and 9 homers. Projected for a full season, that would be 28 home runs and 110 RBIs.
Of those nine home runs, seven came with men on base. Four were three-run blasts. Romero’s daily line included at least one game with one, two, three, four, five and six RBIs.
Romero grew up in southern California. He just turned 22 last week. His sisters Sierra and Sydney both play professional softball. Romero was drafted as a shortstop but did not play a game there for Worcester in 2025. His primary position was third base.
The offensive side of the game comes more naturally than the defensive one for Romero.
“I feel like offensively I’ve been blessed with the ability to see ball, hit ball and make adjustments really quickly,” he said. “Defense is something I’m always having to continually work at, and I think when I continue to work at it, the more I do, the better I get.
“The Red Sox do a good job of letting us know what we’ve got to be better at. For me, it’s moving better laterally on defense, more arm strength. I take pride in my defense. I’m doing everything I can to know that, whatever pitcher is on the mound, they know that if the ball is hit to me, it’s an out.”
That is a valuable quality, but there are more good fielders around than good hitters. Boston drafted Romero because of his potential for hitting it out. The big league Sox would love to see Anthony and him both doing that in Boston some time this season, or at least some time soon.
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
