The Athletic has live coverage of USA vs. Venezuela in the 2026 World Baseball Classic final.
MIAMI — It’s the mid-2010s, and young Roman Anthony, a native of South Florida, watches Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton patrol the outfield and slug home runs at Marlins Park.
It’s July 2017, a 13-year-old Anthony returns from a tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., and his father, Tony, has tickets to the Home Run Derby at the same ballpark. From the front row, Anthony watches Aaron Judge become the first rookie to outright win the All-Star competition.
It’s 2023, and Anthony, now a second-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, buys tickets with several teammates for the World Baseball Classic championship game at Miami’s loanDepot Park. A week or so later, they make the drive down from Fort Myers to watch Samurai Japan beat Team USA.
It’s 2026, and Anthony hits a solo home run against the Dominican Republic to send Team USA to the WBC championship game. That game also takes place at loanDepot Park.
He won’t need to buy a ticket for the final this time.
“The parabolic rise this kid has had since being called up last year, everything has gone from zero to 100 miles an hour,” Tony Anthony said. “No matter how good you think they are watching them grow up, you don’t expect it.”
Drafted in 2022, Roman shot through the minor leagues, becoming baseball’s No. 1-ranked prospect ahead of last season. He debuted on June 9, and over 71 games, he hit .292/.396/.463, with eight home runs and 18 doubles. A left oblique injury cut his first season in the majors short, but he still finished third in AL Rookie of the Year balloting.
“As good as he’s always been, you don’t expect this,” Tony said. “At some point, the rubber meets the road. You don’t expect this sort of success early on.”
Roman Anthony wasn’t supposed to be here. After the injury, the outfielder was just happy to be healthy heading into his first spring training as a member of the big-league club.
“The goal for me was to just be with the guys there and get better every day at camp,” he said.
But when Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll broke his right hamate bone and Team USA needed a new left fielder, the call of a lifetime came.
“It was an absolute no-brainer to be here and to represent this country and just to be around these guys,” Anthony said. “It’s been unbelievable.”
Adding Anthony has yielded the best possible outcome. He leads the U.S. in RBIs (seven), is tied for the most home runs (two), is second in hits (seven) and third in OPS (1.014). If Team USA wins the WBC championship, he’ll receive strong consideration for the MVP award.
“Roman’s special,” manager Mark DeRosa said. “Twenty-one years old, to be able to handle the moment. The quality of at-bat is a testament to the kind of player he is right now and is going to become.”
Transformative at-bats aside, what stands out to Anthony’s U.S. teammates is the way he handles himself.
“Boston should be really happy. Fans of Boston should be really happy as well,” eight-time All-Star Bryce Harper said. “He’s a big-market player. He comes through in big spots. It’s a lot of fun to watch him play.”
Todd Fitz-Gerald, his coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., is not surprised that Anthony has jelled with the national team, if not for his bat, then for his work ethic.
“He’s right there,” Fitz-Gerald said. “He’s not out of place.”
Fitz-Gerald and Anthony still talk on the phone, and, ever the mentor, Fitz-Gerald doesn’t shy away from offering hitting tips, like swinging early, trusting yourself and not locking up during an at-bat.
“I’ll never stop coaching him,” he said.
Tony Anthony said that when it’s all said and done, the homer Sunday against a lefty reliever to put the U.S. ahead might be one of his son’s biggest career highlights. What Tony is most proud of, though, is the son he and his wife, Lori, raised.
“We’re most proud of how he conducts himself,” Tony said. “The humility he has. Always been that way and won’t change. As a father, I’m (more) proud of that than that he can hit a 450-foot home run.”
That loanDepot Park, where Anthony watched Yelich and Stanton play for the Marlins, is the same place where he is the youngest member of a team on the verge of a second WBC championship, is a dream come true for the family.
“The team that they had here, coming to these games as a kid, it’s something that you dream of,” Anthony said. “Not only to play here, but coming to the WBC here, you dream of representing this country and being here the next time around or whenever that time may be, whenever your name gets called.”
When Team USA takes the field on Tuesday night, there will be at least 14 members of Anthony’s support system present, including his brother, sister, an uncle, and some close friends, some of whom he’s known since high school.
“We feel blessed that all of this is going on and that we’re part of it,” Tony said.
People will likely stop Tony on the concourse, some from Roman’s days on youth travel ball teams, others from high school, and all with stories about the now-21-year-old big-leaguer.
His old coach will also be watching.
“He’s gonna be a perennial All-Star,” Fitz-Gerald said. “He’s gonna play the game for a long time, maybe win the batting title one day. Maybe a Hall of Famer one day.”
