Since returning from injury on August 30, Roman Anthony has looked more like the 2025 version of himself than he did at the beginning of the season. He's hitting .258 with a .764 OPS. In his 15 games, he's got five RBI and six extra-base hits; it's good for a 109 WRC+. It's exactly what the Red Sox needed from him in his return from his May 4 injury.
The one thing Anthony has struggled with has been leading off the game. He has hit leadoff in every game he's played since his return and has only two singles, a double, and five strikeouts with no walks in that spot. It's probably time to have someone else lead off.
In his absence (May 5-August 29), Red Sox leadoff hitters had success in the first inning. While they only hit .213, they had a .307 on-base percentage and a .449 slugging percentage, which equated to a 108 WRC+. Surprisingly, most of that success came from Jarren Duran, who hit leadoff 31 of the 101 games and had a 141 WRC+.
Roman Anthony hasn't performed in the first inning, but he has the rest of the game
Anthony has struggled in the leadoff spot all season. In a total of 36 games, the lefty has a .299 OPS in the first inning. In the second inning or later this season, Anthony boasts a .280/.395/.439/.834 slash line and a 136 WRC+. In those same innings, in only the games he was first in the batting order, he has a .792 OPS and 125 WRC+.
Something about him batting first in the first inning isn't working for him. Whether it's his approach or the way pitchers are attacking him in that spot, Anthony hasn't been able to put it together this season. That's why it's time to drop him down in the order.
That doesn't mean to all of a sudden move him down to seventh in the order, but to push him down to second or third and put a player with high on-base skills in front of him. The Sox have had a few players show really great on-base skills this season. Nick Sogard, Mickey Gasper, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are all players with an OBP over .340 this season. Having one of them leadoff, then getting on base in front of Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Willson Contreras, and Wilyer Abreu would be extremely dangerous.
Anthony hasn't shown he can hack it leading off the game this season; it's been his one real weak point since his return. With two weeks until the start of the playoffs and a postseason berth almost assured (100% per FanGraphs as of September 15th), now is the time to experiment with the lineup and fix this problem before they get to October.
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