Red Sox Rookies Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell Match Team Legends
The “Big Three” has already made Red Sox history. Rookies Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell make up the first Boston trio to hit a home run in the same season while being age 22 or younger since 1974, according to FanGraphs.
This year’s rookies matched the feat of legendary outfielders Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice.
Evans had a breakout season in 1974 when he hit 10 home runs with 70 RBI.
Rice, a Hall of Famer, hit his first career home run in 1974, and went on to slug 22 the following season. A broken left wrist prevented Rice from being in the lineup for Boston’s run to the 1975 World Series. He finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting and third in AL MVP voting.
The man who won both of those awards in 1975 was the other half of the “Gold Dust Twins.” Lynn became the first player in MLB history to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season, hitting 21 home runs with 47 doubles and 105 RBI while leading the league in slugging percentage (.566) and OPS (.967).
Lynn made his MLB debut in 1974, hitting two home runs that year.
This year, Campbell was the first Red Sox rookie to go deep, belting his career home run No. 1 in March. He’s currently back with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.
Mayer his his first career home run on June 6 against the New York Yankees. He’s hit a total of four home runs this year, but is struggling of late, with his average falling to .197 after going 0-for-3 in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Giants. He didn’t start Sunday but came in as a defensive replacement in Sunday’s 9-5 loss to San Francisco.
Anthony hit his first big league homer 10 days after Mayer, going deep against the Seattle Mariners. Anthony, the top-ranked MLB prospect, also is scuffling, hitting just .111 with the one home run and five RBI since being called up from Triple-A.