For the second time in this young season, Roman Anthony is sidelined with an injury. The young outfielder injured his hand on a check swing on May 4 in the first game of the Boston Red Sox's series against the Detroit Tigers and has since been diagnosed with a wrist sprain.
The Red Sox initially hoped to avoid an injured list stint for Anthony. They banked on his injury clearing up in a few days. But on May 7, Boston officially placed him on the 10-day IL and called up Mickey Gasper to take his roster spot.
According to multiple sources, Anthony's injury hasn't worsened, but he's still a few days out from playing. It doesn't make sense for Anthony to sit on the bench while he's healing while taking up a roster spot that could go to a healthy bat. But some fans are speculating that may not be the only reason for Anthony's IL placement.
Red Sox chief baseball officer on May 7 appeared on WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" and told the hosts that Anthony was "fine" when they inquired after his health. One day and an IL placement later, show host Greg Hill wondered why Breslow wasn't more upfront.
Breslow may not be the only one directing eyes away from Anthony's injury. The soon-to-be 22-year-old spoke to Red Sox reporters on the afternoon of May 7, shortly after his IL placement, wearing a brace on his hand. Rob Bradford of WEEI wrote that Anthony seemed to try and hide the braced hand in his sweatshirt pocket.
Have the Red Sox downplayed Roman Anthony's hand injury?
It's possible Anthony's injury is more severe than the Red Sox initially thought. After he was pulled from the Tigers game in the first inning, he underwent x-rays, which came back clear, but the Red Sox immediately sent him to a hand specialist for an evaluation. Even after that, they categorized him as day-to-day, but maybe his hand wasn't healing as fast as they expected.
Boston has recently underestimated another ailment of Anthony's. The Red Sox held him out of their April 23 game with back tightness they originally anticipated would take just one day to heal, but Anthony ended up missing four games.
Anthony missing less than a week of playing time seems minor in the grand scheme of things, but he's played just 101 games in the major leagues since last year and he's been injured swinging a bat three different times. Anthony had no history of such injuries in the minor leagues. Boston could be trying to divert attention from his lackluster season so far — Anthony is the face of the Red Sox franchise at 22 years old, and while that may be an unfair amount of pressure to put on someone so young and inexperienced, the Red Sox need him performing to be the best team possible. That can't happen if he keeps injuring himself on swings.
This isn't to say that Anthony is injury prone. He's too young and hasn't played enough to earn such a label now. But it's possible the Red Sox hope to prevent such a narrative from forming.
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