Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony still feels pain swinging, shares injury's general timetable

Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald on Jun 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BOSTON — Roman Anthony hasn’t hit off a tee since late May, when he was shut down after experiencing discomfort attempting the next step in his progression from a sprained hand.

But while the injured Red Sox outfielder remains in a state of limbo, he said he has occasionally continued swinging a light bat just to see how it feels, and to this point he’s still feeling pain.

“It’s progressing, progressing a lot slower than I’d imagined at the beginning of this, but definitely progressing, which is the biggest thing,” Anthony said in the Fenway Park home dugout Saturday. “It’s just pain, that’s what it was and until it’s not that I’ll be here, but 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 here.”

Anthony said he last swung on Friday and that his recent routine has consisted of taking five to seven swings to see how he feels compared to a couple days prior. Asked to describe what exactly he’s feeling at this point, he said the pain has reached a point where he can handle it but not where it makes sense to try ramping up again.

“Obviously it’s not agonizing pain if we’re swinging at this point, but it’s enough pain to where we’re not doing more than the amount that we’re doing,” Anthony said.

Anthony originally sprained his hand swinging during the Red Sox’s May 4 game in Detroit, and initially the hope was he may not need to go on the IL. But the injury proved more significant than anticipated and the 22-year-old outfielder has now missed 32 games entering Saturday.

Anthony underwent imaging on his hand shortly after the injury to figure out exactly what was going on and subsequently received a cortisone shot that he hoped would speed up his recovery. Anthony confirmed he has not had any more imaging or received any other shots since.

“Not yet. We’ll figure it out. The general timetable for this, we’re approaching it, so as we approach that and as we get to that day when this is kind of a common time period for this injury, 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,” Anthony said. “But up until this point it hasn’t been expected to be fully healed yet, so there hasn’t been any imaging.”

Anthony explained that while he hasn’t been provided a firm timetable for his recovery, he was told that many people dealing with similar injuries have recovered in six to eight weeks.

Anthony will hit the six-week mark since the initial injury on Monday.

“They’ve continued to tell me that nothing about this process has been unusual from a time standpoint,” Anthony said. “But for me obviously it’s frustrating.”

In the meantime Anthony has tried to remain active in whatever ways he can. Besides taking dry swings he’s been standing in against the pitching machine to track pitches, throwing, running, shagging fly balls, and Saturday he ran through a series of pregame defensive drills in the outfield.

“It (stinks) when the team is on the road, it feels like they’re gone forever,” Anthony said. “But when they’re home and it’s about being here, being with the guys and being the best teammate I can be and helping guys get better from where I’m at.”