Red Sox's Roman Anthony Struggles in Right Field

0:00On April 8th, the Boston Red Sox sit at two wins and eight losses in this young 2026 season, dead last in Major League Baseball. Their outfielder Roman Anthony, a 21-year-old phenom, crushed it last year with a 292 average, eight homers and 18 doubles. Through 71 games, but right now, teams are feasting on his arm and right field. After a brutal throw home against the Brewers on Monday, the Red Sox bumped him to designated hitter for Tuesday's game. Anthony earned that opening day nod off his rookie fire, finishing third an American league rookie of the year voting with an 859 on base. Plus lugging, social media is blowing up with clips of runners tagging up and scoring easy on balls, hit his waythrows, sailing offline and short every time. Fans and analysts are sidelying at hard since his defense was never the hype, but it wasn't supposed to tank like this. Prospect Scouts loved his bat from day one, ranking him number two overall last year, mainly for swing-smarts and power.

1:00They even gave his arm a solid 60-grade, meaning above average, so this feels more like a mechanical glitch or head-game issue than raw weakness. With studs like Jaren Duran, Sedan Rafaella, and Willier Abrayu patrolling the outfield, Anthony might stick at DH if the throws don't snap. Back giving the Sox flexibility to grind through this rough start. Stay locked in with Boston Red Sox News today. AI-powered updates. I'm Corey with the story.