Ahead of Sunday night's series finale against the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox made a series of roster moves to activate utility man Romy Gonzalez from the 60-day injured list. Among those moves was transferring outfielder Roman Anthony to the 60-day injured list. While the new designation seems like a big deal, it likely doesn't change the 22-year-old phenom's timetable for a return. 

Anthony has been out of the Boston lineup since May 5 with a sprain in his right ring finger as a result of a sawed-off, check-swing foul ball in the first inning of the Red Sox's May 4 win over the Detroit Tigers. After initially declaring the injury to be minor and "day-to-day," the team eventually decided to place the outfielder on the injured list. 

Anthony's recovery has been one of the weirdest developments of the Red Sox' 2026 season. After being placed on the injured list, the 22-year-old was hopeful about returning after the minimum of 10 days, a date that has long since passed. Anthony did return to baseball activities on May 26, taking dry swings before suffering a setback, feeling pain in the finger when hitting off a tee. 

Then, of course, there was the seeming miscommunication about the true nature of the injury, with team president Sam Kennedy pushing back on a report that the injury was a tear, rather than a sprain, telling WEEI's The Greg Hill Show there was "no evidence of a tear." Only for Anthony himself to tell WEEI's Rob Bradford that the injury was indeed a tear.

With the new 60-day injured list designation, Anthony is unable to return from the injured list until July 4. Though, according to Tim Healey of the Boston Globe, the former top prospect in the sport has yet to restart a swinging progression. Anthony was, however, spotted by Bradford taking reps in the outfield, signaling he is making strides. Still, though, there is no timeline for his return to the Boston lineup. 

Anthony sat down with Bradford on Monday morning's Baseball Isn't Boring Show to discuss the injury, "it's been a long, disappointing, slow process," he said. "I want to play baseball, and I'm sitting here, and waiting on a finger, I mean, it sounds ridiculous to me," he continued. 

Anthony did, however, indicate that he is feeling better as he begins to ramp things back up than he did a month ago, even if he is still feeling discomfort in his hand as he swings.

According to Healey, interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters that starter Garrett Crochet has yet to resume throwing after working with plyoballs in recent days. Crochet's return from left shoulder inflammation was slowed after the 2025 Cy Young runner-up suffered a LAT strain after facing live batters for the first time in late May. 

Meanwhile, the Red Sox beat the Yankees 5-4 on Sunday night to complete their first four-game sweep of New York since August 2018. They'll look to make it five wins in a row when they welcome the Washington Nationals to Fenway Park for a three-game set that gets underway on Monday night. Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.83 ERA) will get the start for Boston opposite Miles Mikolas (2-6, 5.24 ERA) for Washington. First pitch from Fenway set for 7:10 p.m. ET. 

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