The Boston Red Sox have a much-needed day off on Thursday after taking two of three games against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Boston will begin a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night with the first pitch scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET. Before the series gets here, let's take a second to evaluate where things stand with the Red Sox after two weeks, starting with the club's brightest young star, Roman Anthony.
Anthony has played in all 12 games for the Red Sox this season and is slashing .217/.308/.348 with a .656 OPS. Anthony has one homer, two RBIs, one stolen base, six walks, one double, one triple and five runs scored. The most surprising offensive stat for Anthony so far this season actually has been his 16 strikeouts.
The 21-year-old entered the 2026 season with many projecting him to be among the top overall players in the American League and potentially even have a chance at the AL Most Valuable Player Award, but he has had a slow start. But don't let this make you too nervous.
When he kicked off his big league career in 2025, Anthony slashed .111/.289/.250 with one homer, five RBIs and two doubles in his first 12 games of his big league career. He's going to figure it out and when he does, this offense is going to be taken to another level.
Anthony has struggled a bit defensively this season, specifically throwing the ball. Red Sox third base coach/outfield instructor Kyle Hudson noted that he believes the issue is lower-half related.
"It’s lower-half related, in my opinion,” Hudson said. “The arm strength is there. His arm strength is actually up from last year. The mechanical side of it, his lower half, has put him in a tough position to maximize that arm strength he has. It’s something we constantly work on. He’s working through it.
It hasn't been a perfect start to the season for Anthony, but he'll be alright. No cause for real concern yet.