The Crimson Sox Are Stretched Skinny by the Lack of Roman Anthony

Roman Anthony has made fairly an affect for the Crimson Sox this season. When the no. 2 prospect on our preseason High 100 Prospects checklist was summoned to Boston in June, the Crimson Sox have been 32-35, nearer to final place within the AL East than first. Lower than every week after he arrived, Boston traded away Rafael Devers, and since then Anthony has been nothing lower than the workforce’s prime hitter whereas serving to it submit the AL’s greatest document over that span. Alas, the 21-year-old phenom might not be capable of assist the Crimson Sox nail down a Wild Card spot, as an indirect pressure will doubtless sideline him for not less than the rest of the common season — and maybe longer.

Anthony suffered the harm throughout the fourth inning of Tuesday’s recreation in opposition to the Guardians at Fenway Park. He felt one thing on his left facet after a checked swing, then struck out swinging on the subsequent pitch, after which he grabbed his decrease left facet whereas strolling away from the plate.

Anthony didn’t return to the sphere for the highest of the fifth inning; as a substitute, he was changed by Nate Eaton. An MRI taken on Wednesday morning revealed what the outfielder informed reporters is a Grade 2 pressure, an harm that usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to heal.

4 weeks isn’t sufficient time to return earlier than the tip of the common season (September 28) or the beginning of the Wild Card spherical (September 30). On Wednesday supervisor Alex Cora made clear that he didn’t count on Anthony again for the Division Collection both, ought to the Crimson Sox make it that far. “I informed him to examine ALCS, first at-bat,” he informed reporters. As for what Cora informed the remainder of the workforce, the supervisor referred to the early-season lack of first baseman Triston Casas to a ruptured left patellar tendon, saying, “Maintain going. Similar to we did after Casas, [like] we did after the [Devers] commerce, we preserve going. At one level, he’s gonna be a part of this, so simply gotta be affected person, however preserve pitching, preserve placing good at-bats, preserve enjoying.”

Alex Cora’s message to the Crimson Sox after the Roman Anthony harm: “Maintain going. Similar to we did after Casas, we did after the commerce, we preserve going. At one level, he is gonna be a part of this, so simply gotta be affected person, however preserve pitching, preserve placing good at bats, preserve enjoying.” pic.twitter.com/5xVc7X0Rdw

— Crimson Sox on CLNS (@RedSoxCLNS) September 3, 2025

Nevertheless lengthy Anthony can be out, the Crimson Sox will miss him. The workforce, which is 78-63 general, has gone an AL-best 46-28 since his arrival, climbing from fourth place within the AL East, 8 1/2 video games behind the Yankees, to 3rd, 3 1/2 video games behind the Blue Jays (81-59) and half a recreation behind the Yanks (78-62). Over that timespan, their Playoff Odds improved from 18.8% to 97.2%.

In 71 video games and 303 plate appearances, Anthony has hit .292/.396/.463 (138 wRC+) with eight homers whereas splitting his time between proper subject (32 begins), left subject and designated hitter (17 begins apiece). Among the many Crimson Sox, solely the departed Devers has a better OBP or wRC+ than Anthony until one counts Nathaniel Lowe, who has hit a scorching .324/.381/.568 (154 wRC+), albeit in simply 42 plate appearances since signing with the workforce on August 18. Anthony’s 2.7 WAR leads Boston’s place gamers since his debut, simply forward of Trevor Story (2.6).

Anthony, whom the Crimson Sox signed to an eight-year extension price not less than $130 million (and probably as a lot as $230 million) lower than two months into his main league profession, has been all the pieces a workforce may have hoped for to this point — together with a very efficient catalyst atop the lineup. From July 27 to September 2, he batted leadoff in 27 of Boston’s 34 video games, hitting .336/.439/.564 (174 wRC+) throughout 132 plate appearances in that capability. Jarren Duran, the one different Crimson Sox participant with not less than 40 PA out of the leadoff spot, has led off 91 video games and hit a relatively tepid .262/.330/.429 (106 wRC+) in 425 PA in that position.

At occasions the Crimson Sox have had such a surplus of outfielders that they’ve used Ceddanne Rafaela — who’s second amongst all heart fielders in FRV (16) and third in DRS (15) — to begin 19 video games at second base. However these days the outfield has been stretched skinny as a result of accidents. The Sox are at present with out outfielder Wilyer Abreu, who has made a team-high 90 begins in proper subject, typically because the lengthy half of a platoon. The lefty-swinging 26-year-old is second on the workforce with 22 homers and has hit .253/.325/.486 (115 wRC+). He strained his proper calf whereas tagging up from third base on August 17 in opposition to the Marlins and went on the IL on August 21. His restoration has been slower than anticipated; as of Monday, he was nonetheless not cleared to run at most velocity.

That is Abreu’s second IL stint this yr. His first, an 11-day absence for a gentle indirect pressure in June, precipitated Anthony’s call-up within the first place. Simply earlier than Abreu injured his calf a number of weeks in the past, his someday platoon companion Rob Refsnyder missed 13 days as a result of a gentle indirect pressure of his personal. With each gamers out, the workforce took a quick have a look at Jhostynxon Garcia, a 22-year-old righty who has hit .277/.352/.489 (124 wRC+) in 33 video games at Double-A Portland and 71 at Triple-A Worcester. Referred to as up on the identical day Abreu went on the IL, the 45+ FV prospect nicknamed “The Password” began three video games for the Crimson Sox, all in opposition to lefties, whereas making a few ninth-inning cameos. (He has since been optioned again to Triple-A.) In that restricted slice of enjoying time, he went 1-for-7 with a double, two walks, and 5 strikeouts. Strikeouts have been an issue all through Garcia’s profession; he’s been punched out 27.8% of the time at Worcester, has only a 68.4% contact price there, and in accordance with our prospect skilled Eric Longenhagen, has only a 30-present and 40-future grade on his hit software.

With Duran in left subject and Rafaela in heart, in the interim the Crimson Sox do have stability in two-thirds of their outfield. With out each Anthony and Abreu, Cora has indicated that proper subject can be a patchwork, one that might embrace not solely Refsnyder (who was activated on August 28) and Eaton, but additionally Masataka Yoshida, who hasn’t performed the place since coming over from Japan forward of the 2023 season, and who’s performed just one inning in left this yr after doing so for simply 24 innings in 2024.

“Clearly, we’re ready for [Abreu] to get again, we’re transferring round — Masa most likely performs a little bit bit on the market,” Cora mentioned. “We’ll combine and match, identical to we’ve been doing all through the season. We’ll be OK.”

The issue for the Crimson Sox is that since Abreu went down, Refsnyder and Yoshida have been already doing the majority of the DH work, largely cut up up alongside platoon strains. In the event that they’re each enjoying often, one in proper and the opposite at DH, any individual can be overexposed:

The 34-year-old Refsnyder, now in his fourth yr as a useful reserve for the Crimson Sox, hits lefties effectively; in reality, he’s received a profession .281/.383/.440 (128 wRC+) line in opposition to them, however only a .231/.302/.331 (76 wRC+) line in opposition to righties. The 32-year-old Yoshida has hit righties at a .293/.345/.449 (117 wRC+) with Boston, however he’s slashing simply .240/.314/.346 (82 wRC+) in opposition to lefties. After present process surgical procedure to restore the labrum in his proper (throwing) shoulder final October, he didn’t return to the Crimson Sox till July 9, and he has but to get going offensively. The 28-year-old Eaton, a right-handed hitter, has been bouncing backwards and forwards between Triple-A and the majors for the previous three seasons (2023 and ’24 with the Royals). He also can play third base, however not less than so far as his offense goes, he has but to maintain any success on the main league degree, hitting .218/.280/.292 (58 wRC+) in 226 profession plate appearances. He did bat leadoff on Wednesday in opposition to Guardians lefty Joey Cantillo, but when his bat isn’t as much as the duty and Cora prefers to maintain Duran batting third, Refsnyder and fellow righty Romy Gonzalez, who’s hit .302/.339/.494 (123 wRC+) general whereas splitting time between second and first (the place he’s these days been platooning with Lowe), are the highest candidates to bat first, not less than when going through a lefty.

Not that it means something to Boston’s destiny this fall, however Anthony’s harm most likely slams the door on any probability he had of successful the AL Rookie of the 12 months award. At this level, the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz figures to be the odds-on favourite, with 28 homers (together with 4 in a single recreation), a 177 wRC+, and 4.2 WAR — all tops amongst rookies in both league. It might have taken some form of nice September and a key position in a playoff push for Anthony to beat these benefits.

If there’s excellent news for the Crimson Sox, it’s that they’ve performed fairly effectively regardless of coping with a slew of accidents. In accordance with the Baseball Prospectus Harm Ledger, their 1,434 player-games misplaced to harm ranks fifth within the majors behind the Dodgers, Astros, Mets, and Orioles. Nonetheless, apart from Alex Bregman, who missed seven weeks throughout the first half as a result of a proper quad pressure, none of these different absences have been of place gamers of Anthony’s caliber, and at a time when the workforce is neck-and-neck for the highest Wild Card spot, being with out Anthony may spell the distinction between enjoying the best-of-three Wild Card Collection completely in Fenway Park (as the highest Wild Card and fourth seed) and doing so at Yankee Stadium (because the second Wild Card and fifth seed). There’s no getting round it: This harm actually hurts.