Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a strained oblique.
Anthony has been a key offensive player for Boston, batting .329 since moving to the top of the lineup on June 28.
The injury comes as the Red Sox hold a top American League wild card spot.
The most impactful rookie in the American League pennant race will likely miss the rest of the regular season.
Roman Anthony, the No. 1 overall prospect summoned to Boston in June and now an invaluable cog in their lineup, strained his oblique and will likely miss four to six weeks, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said on the club’s flagship radio station.
Anthony, 21, has been parked in one of the top three spots in the Red Sox lineup since June 28, a span in which he’s batted .329 with a .930 OPS and led the AL with 24 multi-hit games. He’s batted leadoff in 22 of 25 games since Aug. 6, and the Red Sox have won 10 of 13 games to seize command of an AL wild card spot, tied with the New York Yankees for the top position.
They’d also closed within 2 1/2 games of first-place Toronto in the AL East, but that deficit will be much harder to overcome without Anthony.
He debuted June 9 and has been a key reason the club picked up the pace in the weeks following the blockbuster June 15 trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.
‘He’s one of our best offensive players,’ Cora said in his appearance on WEEI. ‘It sounds harsh but we have to move on. We’ve been through this before.’
The Red Sox are fortunate to have several versatile players, most notably Ceddane Rafaela, who will likely be the full-time center fielder in Anthony’s absence, flanked by Jarren Duran and some combination of Rob Refsnyder and Masataka Yoshida.
Infielder Nick Sogard will be recalled to take Anthony’s roster spot, and he, David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez will cover second base.
Anthony is batting .292 with eight homers and an .859 OPS, amassing 3.1 WAR. The timeline of his estimated absence would sideline him for the rest of the regular season, while allowing a possible return during a potential AL wild card series.