Monday night at Fenway Park marked another milestone of sorts for the Red Sox’ Roman Anthony: It was his first game against his favorite player from childhood, Brewers star Christian Yelich.
The admiration, it turns out, is mutual.
“I’ve paid attention to him. If you’re in the game, you know who he is,” Yelich said before the Brewers opened a three-game series at Fenway Park. “He’s got a great swing. He’s a really talented kid. He’s here at a really young age, so he’s still learning the game — and still able to do what he’s able to do with all that going on. I think he’s going to have a great career, especially once he kind of settles into the league, learns himself a little bit more.”
Anthony grew up in South Florida, and the Marlins were the closest big league team. He didn’t identify as a Marlins fan, per se, but they nonetheless were the club he saw in person most often.
On a low-key loaded roster that featured Giancarlo Stanton (a National League MVP), Dee Strange-Gordon (a batting champion), J.T. Realmuto (three-time All-Star), Marcell Ozuna (three-time All-Star), and the late José Fernández, Yelich stood out as the player to whom a preteen Anthony was most drawn.
Why Yelich?
“When I was younger, I’d go to a few games a year, sit [near] the dugout with my dad, or sometimes we’d sit down the left-field line. And Yelich was the guy: tall, skinny, young kid playing left field, running around, long strides,” Anthony said. “Just kind of reminded me of myself. Lefthanded swing, throws right. A lot of similar traits that I saw as a young kid and always loved watching him.”
The list of similarities goes on. Both broke into the majors at age 21 as much-hyped prospects. They agreed to early-career, long-term contracts with their original team (Yelich signed another with Milwaukee, is wrapped up through his age-37 year, and has never been a free agent). They were highly regarded enough across baseball to be selected for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic at a young age.
“I can see the similarities, for sure,” Yelich said. “I’d say he’s probably more advanced and farther along as a player than I probably was at that age.”
One other common thread: A decade ago, Yelich was knocked for producing too many ground balls. He hit pitches plenty hard, but too often at infielders for easy outs. If only he could hit the ball in the air, the thinking went, he could be a monster.
After winning NL MVP with the Brewers in 2018, Yelich really cut down on his ground-ball rate during a career year in 2019, when he almost won MVP again until fracturing his knee by hitting a foul ball into it.
Anthony, likewise, sometimes is the subject of grounder discourse. His 2026 rate of 57 percent entering the week put him in the bottom 11 percent of qualified major leaguers.
When he was going through it, Yelich didn’t like to talk or think much about it, refusing to sell out for launch-angle dividends at a time when that was new and trendy.
How does he look back on it?
“It’s just part of learning yourself as a player. Sometimes that’s just part of your game. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing,” Yelich said. “As you get more experience and as you learn yourself more as a player, then you can kind of learn what pitches you elevate, how to do it, how it all works.
“Power and all that stuff is really the last thing to come as a player, because it takes experience. It takes getting to know yourself as a hitter. It’s just how the game is, honestly. This is the highest level in the world. It’s not an easy game. You’re going to face challenges. There’s going to be ups and downs, but I have all the confidence in the world that he’s going to be great.”
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.