Red Sox Insider Breaks Down The Impact Of Roman Anthony's Slow Start

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The Boston Red Sox breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that Roman Anthony's hand injury was not serious.

The Red Sox placed Anthony on the 10-day injured list with a sprained ligament under his right ring finger last week, but he is eligible to return to the lineup as soon as May 15. Boston will be happy to have the 21-year-old phenom back in action, despite his struggles this season.

Anthony had an impressive rookie season, slashing .292/.396/.463 with eight home runs and 32 RBIs, and was expected to have a breakout sophomore season. The 21-year-old has struggled, however, slashing a mere .229/.354/.321 with only one home run and five RBIs in 30 games.

With Boston trading away Rafael Devers and failing to bring back Alex Bregman in free agency this offseason, a lot of the pressure for the offense's success has fallen on Anthony's shoulders. On the latest episode of "The Fenway Rundown" podcast, MassLive's Sean McAdam broke down the sophomore outfielder's slow start to the season and the impact that it's had on the Red Sox.

“That hasn’t manifested,” McAdam said of the expected offensive breakout on Monday. “And that’s a huge hole in that lineup because rightly or wrongly, he was being tasked with shouldering a lot of the offense this year. Bregman left. Devers had been traded.

"Other than (Triston) Casas, they really didn’t land a big bat over the offseason, and the feeling was, well, there’s going to be big growth from Anthony. And there may still be, but we haven’t seen it a quarter of the way through.”

Anthony displayed an absurd amount of potential in his rookie season. The Red Sox have failed to get consistent production from their offense this season, including the young star, but will need Anthony to bounce back when he returns from injury to bolster the offense.

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