The 2026 season is still incredibly young, but with a 2-8 record, the Boston Red Sox are the worst team in major league baseball as of Tuesday. As one could imagine, very little has gone well for the Red Sox so far this season. But one recent development has been especially troubling: teams are running wild on Roman Anthony's arm.
The 21-year-old Anthony earned an opening day start in right field for the Red Sox after dominating in his rookie season last year. Through 71 games in 2025, Anthony clubbed 8 home runs and 18 doubles while batting .292 with an .859 OPS, enough to earn him a third-place finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
But his defense has not been up to the same standards as his offense, and after making a particularly poor throw home during Monday's contest against the Brewers, the Red Sox moved Anthony to the DH slot for Tuesday's game.
It's worth noting that Anthony was always a top prospect for his bat rather than his defense. When Anthony was ranked the #2 prospect in all of baseball in 2025 (h/t MLB Pipeline), most of the focus was on his excellent swing decisions, high exit velocities and impressive strength, especially for someone who was just 20 years of age at the time.
Even though his fielding was certainly described with less excitement, prospect evaluations were confident that he could perform well in a corner outfield spot and spoke highly of his arm; Fangraphs' Eric Longenhagen gave Anthony a 60 grade on his arm, which is reserved for traits considered to be above average.
All of this is to say that Anthony's arm was never a significant area of concern, but very quickly this season it has become one. On social media, multiple videos have gained traction of teams aggressively sending runners home on balls hit to Anthony, and in each instance his throw was remarkably off line and under-thrown.
Given the fact that Anthony's arm was never a source of concern as a prospect, there's reason to believe that his latest struggles are mechanical or possibly even mental, and that sort of issue can more easily be fixed than simply having a weak arm.
But the Red Sox have no shortage of outfield options with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu also on the team, so if Anthony's throwing issues persist he could find himself at designated hitter more often than not.
