The Boston Red Sox will almost certainly play the rest of the regular season without their outfield phenom and the former No. 1 prospect in baseball, Roman Anthony.
The 21-year-old was pulled from Boston's September 2 game against the Guardians and placed on the 10-day injured list with an oblique strain, and the Red Sox have felt his absence. They lost their first three games without Anthony in the lineup, and mustered just one run in two of them. The Sox seem to be back on track with back-to-back seven-run wins against the Diamondbacks and A's, but experts aren't convinced.
David Schoenfield of ESPN categorized the Red Sox as "not real" World Series contenders without Anthony in the lineup, with the subhead: "Without Roman Anthony, you can kiss a World Series title goodbye." MLB insider Ken Rosenthal said Boston's offensive streakiness will be its biggest flaw as it pushes for the postseason. Anthony was its most consistent bat, with a .292/.396/.463 slash line and an .859 OPS over his first 71 games in the big leagues.
But being without Anthony should not be the Red Sox's downfall. There is far too much other talent on the roster to be completely lost with one player on the sidelines.
The Red Sox need to keep it together in Roman Anthony's absence to avoid pressuring the outfielder
Anthony is hardly the only Red Sox injured as of this writing. Their rotation depth is severely depleted, with Dustin May and Richard Fitts on the IL after Walker Buehler's surprising release. But sluggish offense has been Boston's biggest problem, and although some other sluggers are also on the IL, they don't account for the extent of the offense's slump.
Alex Bregman is batting .161/.224/.210 in his last 15 games. Ceddanne Rafaela is slashing .192/.236/.346 with 13 strikeouts in the same amount of time. Romy Gonzalez is in the middle of an injury scare and he's been Boston's best hitter in Anthony's absence, and he's batting .392/.407/.471 with nine RBI in his 15 most recent appearances.
The streakiness of the offense has put Anthony in a position he never should've been, and one the front office openly hoped to avoid — as the savior of this Red Sox team. Throughout the Red Sox's early season struggles and in the wake of the Rafael Devers trade, Craig Breslow attested that his top prospects shouldn't be treated as heroes upon their call-ups, but Anthony has been exactly that. His .396 OBP has added length to the lineup wherever Alex Cora has played him, and no one has consistently picked up the slack in his absence.
Three of the Red Sox's five remaining series will be against teams in the playoff race (the Yankees, Tigers and Blue Jays). Boston is fighting for the first American League Wild Card spot for home field advantage during the first round, and it's going to want it rather than playing two or three games in the Bronx.
Anthony's return will be all the sweeter if the Red Sox make the playoffs in the best possible position to win. Boston keeping it together would also remove pressure from the young outfielder when he's back in action.