![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.bostonherald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/20240911_WooSox_Cover_AshGreen_29_ee6465.jpg?w=1024\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The annual Red Sox Rookie Development program has several ways of preparing the organization\u2019s top prospects for life in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s workouts, media training, volunteering, dinners, and\u2026 basketball?<\/p>\n
NHL and NBA schedules depending, the Red Sox take their rising stars to TD Garden. Last year it was the Bruins. On Sunday night, Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell watched the Celtics defeat the Pelicans 120-119.<\/p>\n
For prospects who\u2019ve spent little to no time in the region, it might be their first time seeing Boston sports fans in their frenzied, passionate element. The atmosphere can have a powerful effect on a young athlete. Like seeing their names on the lockers in the Fenway clubhouse, it\u2019s a reminder that they\u2019re making their dreams come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my second time in Boston, so I think being here definitely makes it feel a little bit closer, like it\u2019s right around the corner,\u201d Campbell said in his Rookie Development scrum on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels a little bit more real every time I\u2019ve been here because, you know, I\u2019ve been closer in terms of where I\u2019m at,\u201d said Anthony. \u201cBut again, the goal, you know, continues to stay the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watching the National Basketball Association motivates someone whose goal is to play Major League Baseball?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely fired me up,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI was actually talking to Roman about it. I really felt something when I was in the Celtics\u2019 stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell even predicted the score. Or rather, the important half of it. He didn\u2019t think it would be nearly as close. \u201cI said 120-105. I got the Celtics\u2019 score right!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Anthony, now the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, has navigated the spotlight well. Still, he admitted it was nice to be on the sidelines for a change.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to see another team and being a spectator, it\u2019s always fun and you enjoy that since you\u2019re so used to being the one that\u2019s being watched,\u201d he told the Herald. \u201cJust getting to go there and enjoy it with the guys, and obviously the Celtics are a fun team to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming off a championship season and poised for another playoff run, the Celtics were also able to give the prospects a taste of something they haven\u2019t gotten from their own big-league club: winning. The Red Sox have missed five of the last six postseasons and are currently running a three-year drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Celtics won the championship last year. I think that was also really good to watch,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThe fans, the atmosphere was crazy. I kind of got chills yesterday going into the stadium and everything, just seeing how everybody was interacting and seeing how everybody was super excited about being there, and just all the emotions that go into it, I felt it for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prospects also got to see how the Celtics operate behind the scenes. On Monday, they observed team practice at the Auerbach Center and received some guidance from head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just gave us advice on how to handle our business, how to handle being a professional,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIt was cool to see the professional players go about their business, especially them being the champions last year. It\u2019s just really good to see how they do certain things, how they go about practice and how they go about themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell wasn\u2019t expecting the Celtics to make such an impact on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually didn\u2019t really grow up a basketball fan, I was really just into baseball,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the Celtics experience was really good. That was my second basketball game ever. My first was an Atlanta Hawks game when I was younger. Then (Al) Horford played for the Hawks, actually, so that was a minute ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony was locked in on baseball, too, but growing up in south Florida, he was a casual Miami Heat and Florida Panthers fan, and the Buffalo Bills, his father\u2019s favorite team, reigned supreme. He\u2019s seen how Bruins fans travel for their rivalry with the Panthers, though, and he\u2019s heard Red Sox fans have a strong presence on the road, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to it for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll be able to see, hopefully, pretty soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both players have been on the fast track since being drafted by the Red Sox. Anthony was selected in the second round in \u201822, a month after his 18th birthday. By the end of the \u201823 MiLB season, the 19-year-old Anthony had moved from Low-A Salem to Double-A Portland. The Red Sox moved him up to Triple-A Worcester last August, and he\u2019s a candidate to make the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n
Campbell was a \u201823 compensatory pick because Xander Bogaerts declined his qualifying offer and signed with the Padres. He earned two promotions in \u201824, going from Opening Day in High-A Greenville to joining Anthony in Triple-A.<\/p>\n
This week in Boston made their bright futures feel closer and more real than ever. Campbell was wowed by the crowd at TD Garden, but he knows Fenway Park is even bigger. Nearly twice the capacity, in fact. Double the fans. Double the energy.<\/p>\n
When his game comes, Campbell knows it\u2019ll feel different. But seeing the Celtics play got him thinking about what that moment will be like. Overcome with emotion? Numb?<\/p>\n
\u201cI will definitely feel something. Or I might not feel anything or remember any of it, I don\u2019t know,\u201d he wondered out loud. \u201cIt\u2019s different being out there than just observing. I can\u2019t wait for that moment, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the rate these two are going, they won\u2019t have to wait much longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The annual Red Sox Rookie Development program has several ways of preparing the organization\u2019s top prospects for life in the big leagues. There\u2019s workouts, media training, volunteering, dinners, an\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n