Red Sox’s Alex Bregman Explains Roman Anthony’s Home Run Surge

It’s Roman Anthony’s world and we’re just living in it. For the second time in three games, the Boston Red Sox rookie hit a leadoff home run. He did it in Monday’s 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles and repeated the feat Wednesday in the 3-2 win at Camden Yards.

For the season, the outfielder is up to seven home runs in 65 games. Five of those shots have come in the month of August. So what explains Anthony’s power surge? Third baseman Alex Bregman said it’s all about creating backspin.

“Hit the inside part of the ball out front,” Bregman said, according to Masslive.com’s Christopher Smith. “Get the bat out in front of your body. That would be the key.”

So what does backspin have to do with home runs?

“I think the important thing is spinning the ball correctly in the air to the pull side,” Bregman said, per Smith. “So the harder you can hit the ball doing that, the more success I feel like you’re gonna have.

“So I think that coupling the two is important, but I wouldn’t want to give on the backspin in the air to the pull side if that meant adding exit velocity, I wouldn’t want to give on that. I think hitting the ball on a line and in the air is more important,” Bregman added.

According to the analytics website Baseball Savant, Anthony has an average exit velocity of 94.4 mph, which leads all Red Sox batters. The 21-year-old has topped out at 113.7 mph. If Anthony had enough at-bats this season, his average exit velocity would rank fifth this season in the majors.

The players ahead of him include New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (95.1 mph, 41 home runs), Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani (94.8 mph, 45 home runs) and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber (94.5 mph, 45 home runs). So you’re talking about a who’s who of MLB sluggers.

Anthony certainly seems quite comfortable hitting leadoff for the Red Sox. Five of his seven home runs have come at the top of the order, including Monday’s blast, which made him the the youngest Red Sox player ever to lead off a game with a home run.

Keeping that in mind, you won’t want to miss the top of the first inning on Thursday when Anthony and the Red Sox go for a four-game sweep of the Orioles. First pitch is slated for 1:05 p.m. ET.