He might be making slow progress, but there’s still no timetable on Roman Anthony’s return
More than two weeks after his most recent setback — and close to six weeks since suffering the original injury — Roman Anthony remains stuck in a holding pattern, making nominal progress at best, leaving the Red Sox and their young star outfielder unsure when he’ll return.
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“It’s progressing,” Anthony said Saturday afternoon. “Progressing a lot slower than I had imagined in the beginning of this, but definitely progressing.”
Interim manager Chad Tracy expressed a similar optimistic sentiment, but both were light on specifics.
Both referenced a potential follow-up MRI — not a specific plan for one, but an intention to discuss maybe setting that up. Anthony said he hasn’t had any medical imaging done since early May, when he first got hurt.
“The general timetable for this was — we’re approaching it,” Anthony said. “As we approach that and as we get to that day when this is kind of a common time period for this injury, then I think that’s when we’ll address it and say, OK, let’s check in on it and see where we’re at, see how it’s healed, see how it’s gone.”
What was the initial general timetable?
“It’s anywhere from six to eight weeks, but there’s been a million different cases of a million different people taking six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks, whatever it is,” Anthony said. “Everyone heals differently. So my best guess [is] it would be somewhere around that point, but again, haven’t really talked much about it.”
Monday will mark six weeks since Anthony, on a seemingly random swing, partially tore a ligament attached to the ring finger in his right hand.
“[Red Sox medical personnel have] continued to tell me that nothing along this process has been unusual from a time standpoint,” said Anthony. “But for me, obviously, just frustrating, right? I don’t want to be five weeks out and just continuing to kind of [wait].”
For now, Anthony is still engaged in a variety of baseball activities, including defensive work in the Fenway Park outfield before the Sox played the Rangers. In stands in the batting cage and tracks pitches off a high-tech pitching machine, helping keep his eye sharp. And he works on strengthening his sprained right hand/wrist.
Every several days, when he feels able enough in his workout, Anthony tests his arm by swinging a light bat. When he did so Friday, he felt less pain than usual, but enough that he isn’t yet taking that next step forward — swinging an actual bat, then hitting an actual ball.
Already, Anthony has endured a couple of false starts, trying to advance in his hitting progression only to have it hurt enough that he needs to go back to the beginning.
“If … you feel like you could be in a spot where you put yourself back to square one or backwards, we don’t want that either, so we’re just making sure that we get it right to where we’re all comfortable,” Tracy said.
Anthony has stayed in Boston for the Red Sox’ past couple of road trips, which is normal for injured players who are not close to returning. Garrett Crochet, who has traveled with the team amid his prolonged shoulder/lat-induced absence, is an exception.
“It sucks when the team’s on the road,” Anthony said. “I feel like they’re gone forever when they’re on the road, but when they’re home, it’s about being here, being with the guys, and being the best teammate that I can be.
“As soon as it feels like it starts to get a whole lot better, I’m sure we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at and how it’s going to go from there.”
Where’s Chapman?
Aroldis Chapman has pitched just twice in three weeks, a product mostly of game circumstance — few close wins. “In this stretch, would like to have seen him throw more, because that would have meant we’re winning more games,” Tracy said. He added that Chapman’s sore left hamstring has been “improving” . . . Among a slew of roster moves by the Rangers: outfielder Evan Carter landed on the 10-day injured list because of a right oblique strain; infielder/outfielder Cody Freeman was recalled from Triple-A to fill the roster spot.
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