Roman Anthony Expected To Avoid Offseason Surgery

Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony was knocked out of the Wild Card round with a recurrence of the hand issue that cost him most of the regular season. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com) on Monday that the injury is not expected to require surgery.

The update strikes a more positive note than the feedback from manager Chad Tracy after Anthony was removed from the playoff roster. The skipper told reporters that Anthony not only aggravated the hand injury, but strained different muscles in his wrist. “It’s not great,” Tracy said at the time.

Anthony went down in early May with a right wrist sprain. Additional testing revealed a torn ligament in Anthony’s right ring finger. He was moved to the 60-day IL near the end of June. Anthony didn’t suit up for the Red Sox until the final weekend of August.

Back atop the Boston lineup, Anthony played fairly well in September and headed into the postseason as a key cog in the offense. He reinjured his hand against Cam Schlittler in Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Yankees. Anthony struck out twice and then was removed for a pinch hitter before his third at-bat. Curtis Mead would soon replace him on the playoff roster.

Anthony was off to a slow start before the hand injury. He carried a .631 OPS into May. He homered just once in his first 130 plate appearances. It wasn’t exactly the breakout campaign the club had envisioned after Anthony posted a 141 wRC+ in his first taste of the majors last year. The former top prospect seemed to get back on track to close the year, slashing .262/.321/.476 with four home runs over his final 103 at-bats.

The comments from Breslow suggest Anthony is heading toward a relatively normal offseason. His presence will be important for a lineup that ranked 23rd in scoring this season. Boston mustered just two runs in two games against the Yankees in the playoffs.