Entering the 2026 season, no player on the Boston Red Sox faced more pressure to perform than 22-year-old phenom Roman Anthony. After striking out on free-agent sluggers Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber, and watching Alex Bregman depart for the Chicago Cubs, the weight of the Boston offense rested firmly on the former top overall prospect’s shoulders. 

An impressive, injury-shortened 2025 season, in which the then-21-year-old hit .292/.396/.463/.859 in 71 games, showed Anthony was more than capable of being THE GUY in a lineup. However, in a small sample size in 2026, that has proven to be a bit too ambitious. 

In his first 30 games of the season, Anthony hit just .229/.354/.321/. 675, struggling to adapt to pitchers' adjustments, including throwing him more off-speed pitches than fastballs. Anthony had shown signs of breaking out at the plate in late April, but then he suffered a torn ligament in his right ring finger, an injury that kept him out for over three months. 

When the 22-year-old phenom returned to the lineup on Aug. 30, he came out of the gate firing, hitting .455/.500/.909/1.409 with two home runs, two doubles, and a triple in his first five games. However, in his last 19 games, Anthony has struggled mightily, hitting just .215/.262/.367/.629 with two home runs, four doubles, and one triple. 

Once again, though, Anthony has shown recent signs of breaking out in a big way at the plate, going 4-for-6 with two doubles and a triple in Friday's doubleheader against the Cubs. 

It will be even more important for the Red Sox to get their 22-year-old face of the franchise going at the plate given that the team has seen two massive pieces, Willson Contreras and Mickey Gasper, go down with injuries in recent weeks, putting their playoff status in jeopardy.

With Gasper almost certainly missing at least the Wild Card round and potentially the entire postseason, and Contreras' status in doubt thanks to what he described as a bone bruise, the pressure is on underperforming players like Anthony and Wilyer Abreu to step up. In Anthony's case, he needs set the table for the middle of the order, and in Abreu's case, he needs to start to cashing in those opportunities. 

Anthony will have one more opportunity in the regular season to build on Friday's strong showing as the Red Sox and Cubs escape a New England nor'easter and head to Tampa to complete their three-game series from Tropicana Field on Sunday. Neither team has named its starting pitcher for the series finale. First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. ET.