Red Sox's Roman Anthony Snub Explained After Surprising Move

The Boston Red Sox opted to bring up an outfielder on Saturday not named Roman Anthony.

After the Red Sox lost against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, it was shared that the team was making a handful of moves, including calling up outfielder Nate Eaton, as shared by the Boston Sports Journal's Chris Henrique.

 "The Red Sox to promote Nate Eaton from Triple-A Worcester, per sources," Henrique said.

Unsurprisingly, this led to some questions on social media about why the Red Sox opted to roll with Eaton and not Anthony.

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo addressed the move while specifically talking about the slate of left-handed pitchers the Red Sox have on the docket.

"This may sound silly in the grand scheme but the reason for Nate Eaton, a right-handed hitter, at this point might be that the Red Sox will face Tyler Anderson and Yusei Kikuchi early in the week (then maybe (Ryan Yarbrough), (Carlos Rodón) in NY)," Cotillo said.

So far this season, Eaton has appeared in 53 games with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox and is slashing .277/.364/.446 with five home runs, 27 RBIs, four stolen bases, 16 doubles, and 33 runs scored.

Obviously, the move led to plenty of chatter on social media about the team opting to bring up an outfielder other than Anthony. But, this move makes sense. The Red Sox are about to face some tough lefties and Eaton will be a depth bat for the team in the short term. When Anthony comes up, he'll get everyday opportunities. That's not likely to be the case with Eaton.