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Boston may soon be calling.
With Red Sox fans already clamoring for the top MLB prospect to be brought up to the majors as the team struggles, the 21-year-old delivered a message on Saturday with a 497-foot grand slam for Triple-A Worcester in a 10-4 WooSox win over Rochester.
According to WooSox manager Chad Tracy, “that ball was murdered.”
The blast came off of a 91.1 mph sinker from pitcher Carlos Romero and went 115.6 mph off the bat to deep over the right center field wall. It gave the WooSox a 9-4 lead in the eighth inning.
“Got it and didn’t really miss it,” Anthony said, according to the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester. “So, it felt great.”
It was the longest home run in affiliated baseball season, per Statcast.
This year in the majors, there is only one home run that has traveled over 475 feet. It was a Mike Trout 484-footer against the Giants on April 19.
Since Statcast started tracking the majors in 2015, there have only been a few homers hit greater distances than Anthony’s on Saturday — Nomar Mazara (505 feet in 2019), Giancarlo Stanton (504 feet in 2016), C.J. Cron (504 feet in 2022) and Christian Yelich (499 feet in 2022).
The Red Sox (31-35) are fourth in the AL East, putting them 9.5 games behind the leading Yankees, who they have a rubber game against on Sunday.
The team has been disappointing outside of ace Garrett Crochet.
Alex Bregman was putting up a campaign for MVP before suffering a hamstring injury in late May, and Kristian Campbell has struggled recently after what was at first a successful promotion.
The calls for Anthony, a 2022 second-round pick, to go to Boston are growing, as he is batting .290 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs in 57 games this season, along with two grand slams.
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