The Boston Red Sox will have to exercise patience as they await the return of their promising young outfielder, Roman Anthony.
In an unfortunate twist during his rehabilitation, Anthony experienced a setback on Thursday that has led to his recovery being paused, as confirmed by the team’s manager, Chad Tracy.
Tracy shared with reporters on Friday that Anthony experienced discomfort while practicing swings on a tee. Consequently, the 22-year-old has been advised to refrain from swinging for a few days, as reported by MassLive.
This isn’t the first pause in Anthony’s recovery journey. Earlier this month, he suffered an injury during a match against the Detroit Tigers. Since then, this marks the second time his rehab has been interrupted, with the first occurring last week.
Anthony’s last appearance on the field was on May 4, when a wrist injury forced him to leave the game. Shortly after, the Red Sox placed him on the 10-day injured list, hoping for a swift recovery.
The affliction has since been reclassified as a finger injury, with Anthony calling it a partially torn right ring finger ligament. But there is still some confusion about what exactly he is suffering from.
“I know stuff came out yesterday about ‘tear vs. sprain vs. strain’ and all these things. I don’t know what else to say other than a strain/sprain, it is a tear,” Tracy said. “If you strain a hamstring, that’s a partial tear.
“Fibers let go a little bit and they’ve got to heal. I don’t think anything was portrayed differently or wrongly.”
Tracy added that although Anthony’s time away from the field hurts his club, the best thing they can do is just wait and see.
“The fact of the matter still remains that he’s got something in there and if there’s discomfort, we just have to wait,” he said. “Did we want it to go quicker? Yeah, but we can’t control the healing. If he’s got discomfort, we’ve got to wait.
“Is it going to go longer than we had originally hoped and thought? Yeah, but that’s just how it goes.”
Anthony was off to a slow start to his sophomore season before his injury, putting up a slash line of .229/.354/.321 with just one home run through 30 games.
He burst onto the scene during his rookie year, batting .292 with 18 doubles through 71 games in 2025, prompting the Red Sox to sign him to an eight-year, $130 million contract midway through his impressive campaign.