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Boston Red Sox top prospect, and the No. 1 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, Roman Anthony made his long-awaited debut at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.
While all baseball eyes were on Anthony, he wasn’t the only member of the family who went viral.
Lia Anthony, Roman’s sister, told Boston-based WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that she had “quite a few DMs” after being shown on the NESN broadcast for Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
While discussing the excitement of seeing her brother’s dream come true playing in the big leagues, Lia also revealed that her Instagram following jumped from 3,000 to more than 14,000.
“I mean, it’s been surreal,” Lia, a Florida State University graduate, told WEEI.
As of Thursday night, Lia’s following has reached over 17,400 followers.
Lia wouldn’t reveal who DMed her, and what was said. However, she was laughing at a few.
“I got a couple baseball [DMs],” she explained. “But it was funny, somebody said something about how they accidentally hit their baseball [in my DMs] and asked me to throw it back.”
The whole Anthony family was in the front row at Fenway Park to witness Roman’s debut, including father Anthony Sr., brother Anthony Jr., who goes by Tony, and mother Lori.
NESN sideline reporter Jahmai Webster took the time to interview the Anthony family during the game, which was one of the main reasons Lia went viral.
But she says her little brother Roman wasn’t too fazed by the attention she was getting.
“I think he definitely was shocked. We all were. We all were kind of in disbelief. But, I mean, he’s got bigger things to focus on. So, he’s just been focusing on his debut and everything. But I think we were all just shocked by it,” Lia explained.
Lia added that this was her first experience in Boston, where she said “the people were amazing.” She also got to meet Red Sox legend David Ortiz, calling it “an unreal experience.”
“My mom especially was so touched by it, because David Ortiz had shared a couple words with her, talking about how incredible Roman is and how he’ll be the face of the franchise,” Lia said.
Roman didn’t have the debut he wanted, going 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly and an RBI, but he was able to notch his first career hit, a two-RBI double, on Wednesday.
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