The Red Sox opened the Wild Card Series with a loss, and the bigger concern may be Roman Anthony’s right hand.
Boston fell 9-0 to the Yankees on Tuesday, and Anthony exited early after re-aggravating the same hand injury that had already cost him months during the regular season. The team said the issue happened on a check swing. Anthony was replaced by Andruw Monasterio in the sixth inning after going 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.
It’s a brutal turn for a 22-year-old who entered 2026 expecting his first full season in the majors. Anthony came into the year as baseball’s No. 1 prospect last season, but a wrist injury wrecked much of his campaign. He first hurt himself at the beginning of May, tearing a ligament in his wrist on a check swing, and he did not return to Boston until the end of August.
Even with the interrupted season, Anthony showed real progress once he got back. He played in 55 games, hit five home runs, drove in 15 runs and posted a .735 OPS.
The season before that, he was starting to look like the player the Red Sox had been waiting for. In 71 games in 2025, Anthony hit eight home runs, knocked in 32 runs and finished with an .859 OPS. That performance put him third in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Athletics rookies Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson.
If Anthony needs time off, Boston’s outfield alignment should stay the same. He was the designated hitter on Tuesday, while Jarren Duran started in left field, Ceddanne Rafaela in center and Wilyer Abreu in right.
The bigger question is how the Red Sox fill the DH spot if Anthony can’t go. Monasterio is one option to handle the role for the rest of the postseason, and Jahmai Jones could also get a few at-bats there. Any solution has to come from the right side, since the only left-handed bats on the roster are Abreu, Anthony and Duran, while the team’s only switch-hitters are already in the starting lineup.
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