Red Sox’s Roman Anthony Surges In Latest Rookie Of The Year Poll

It’s Roman Anthony’s world and we’re just living in it. The Boston Red Sox rookie continues raking and turning heads. The latest accolade? He’s moved up from No. 5 to No. 3 in MLB.com’s American League Rookie of the Year poll.

Anthony even managed to nab one of the 33 first-place votes from MLB.com’s panel of experts.

“It’s been a good couple of months for Anthony, who at 21 years old is demonstrating why he was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the game by MLB Pipeline at the time of his debut with the Red Sox on June 9,” MLB.com’s Manny Randhawa wrote Wednesday.

“He was awarded an eight-year, $130 million contract extension by Boston last week,” Randhawa continued. “He’s been particularly hot at the plate of late, slugging his third home run and upping his season OPS to .827 on Monday.

“It all adds up to a two-spot jump in our rankings,” Randhawa concluded.

Anthony impressed once again at the plate in Tuesday’s 14-1 win over the Houston Astros. Batting leadoff, the outfielder homered in his second straight game and went 1-for-2 with four walks and four runs scored.

The rookie now has 21 extra-base hits (16 doubles, one triple and four home runs) and 32 walks in 52 career games.

According to the NESN postgame show, he’s the only player in Red Sox history to have at least 20 extra-base hits and 25 walks in their first 52 games besides Hall of Famer Ted Williams.

Anthony is crushing it as the Boston’s leadoff hitter, batting .340 with 11 walks in 47 at-bats atop the lineup.

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz leads the Rookie of the Year poll. He received 32 first-place votes, and with good reason. The 22-year-old is hitting .300 with 23 home runs and 62 RBIs.

Teammate Jacob Wilson is second in the poll. The 23-year-old shortstop is fourth in the majors with a .312 batting average.