Anthony Seigler stepped into the leadoff spot Tuesday for just the third time this season, a decision by the Boston Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy that shows an unusual level of confidence in the former New York Yankees top draft pick who was little more than an afterthought in the offseason trade that brought Caleb Durbin to Boston in the offseason.
The decision came as the Red Sox prepared to take on the heavy-hitting Washington Nationals in the second of three games at Fenway Park. Seigler has appeared in just 12 games so far this season, but the 27-year-old is batting .333/.405/.515 in 11 games with Boston, numbers that might have seemed far-fetched two years ago, when he walked out of the New York Yankees organization without a major-league contract.
Chad Tracy Explains Seigler Leadoff Decision
Interim manager Chad Tracy was direct about Tuesday’s construction. Romy Gonzalez needed at-bats at DH ahead of a left-handed starter the following night, and with Masataka Yoshida out, the leadoff slot needed a warm body.
“We need Romy in there and get that bat going,” Tracy said Tuesday as quoted by MassLive. “If Masa is not going to play, Seigler ⦠is the logical choice to do it. But getting Romy in there today ahead of a lefty tomorrow and start building at-bats for him because if we can get that bat hot, it’s very impactful. So just looking for ways to get Romy involved.”
Seigler was recalled from Triple-A Worcester on June 20 and has started 11 consecutive games at second base since. Three days before Tuesday’s game, he hit his first career home run, a solo shot off Gerrit Cole over the Green Monster in a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees.
Seigler’s Path From Yankees First-Round Pick to Boston
The 27-year-old’s road to Fenway is was not an easy one. The New York Yankees selected Seigler 23rd overall in the 2018 MLB Draft out of Cartersville High School in Georgia, signing him for roughly $2.8 million. Scouts graded his defensive tools and strike-zone discipline as elite. The question was always the bat.
Fractured kneecap and quad injuries stacked up across multiple IL stints, and the entire 2020 minor-league season was wiped out by the COVID pandemic, setting Seigler’s development way back. Drafted as a catcher, Seigler effectively lost two full years to allow his skills to take shape.
By the end of 2024, the Yankees let him walk. Milwaukee signed him to a minor-league deal. He spent 34 games with the Brewers in 2025, batting .194 with no home runs â a line that doesn’t generate trade value.
Boston acquired him in February 2026 as part of the multi-player deal that sent left-hander Kyle Harrison to Milwaukee, a trade that also delivered Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio to the Red Sox. Seigler was the secondary piece. That framing has not aged well.
He tore through Triple-A Worcester in May, posting a .344/.468/.531 line in 18 games, according to Nick John of Talk Sox. WooSox acting manager Iggy Suareznoted that Seigler “didn’t have a spring training, so now a month in, that’s spring training for him. He’s getting into the swing of things and getting his rhythm back.”
Born June 20, 1999, in Fort Defiance, Arizona on the Navajo Nation, Seigler is the second Navajo player in major-league history, per Baseball Reference, following another Red Sox star,Jacoby Ellsbury. His 2026 metrics in Boston back only back up Tracy’s decsision, wiyj a 48.3% hard-hit rate and 89.8 mph average exit velocity in 37 plate appearances.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Red Sox Make Anthony Seigler Lineup Decision Before Nationals Game appeared first on HEAVY.