Roman Anthony took a small but meaningful step on Wednesday, beginning a swing progression that has him hitting off a tee and taking short flips after earlier tee work caused discomfort. The initial plan is 30 swings per day, a measured ramp that gives the Boston Red Sox their clearest sign yet that his recovery is moving again.
The update matters now because it comes after Anthony’s right ring finger injury stalled his return before. He exited the team’s eventual 5-4 win in Detroit on May 4 with a sprained ligament below that finger, then landed on the 10-day injured list three days later. By late May, he had already tried tee hitting once more, only to shut it down again when the discomfort returned.
Chad Tracy delivered the latest news before Thursday night’s series finale against the Athletics in Sacramento, and he framed the progress in cautious terms. Anthony is “doing well,” Tracy said, but “there’s no clear next steps yet.” That leaves the club with a player who is back on a structured hitting plan, but not one who has earned a green light for anything beyond the work he is doing now.
That restraint is the key to reading this update. A progression built around tee work and short flips is the first real bridge back to live hitting, but the fact that the Red Sox are still holding off on the next phase shows how much the finger still governs the pace. Anthony’s body has already rejected one attempt to move forward; this time, the club is asking for enough comfort and repeat swings to prove the setback is behind him.
For now, the question is not whether Anthony has started moving again. He has. The question is whether 30 swings a day can stay pain-free long enough to open the door to whatever comes after tee work, because that is the point at which the recovery stops being a report and starts becoming a timetable.
