The Boston Red Sox have now been without star outfielder Roman Anthony since May 4th, when he suffered a finger injury while swinging a bat. Since then, he’s seemed to make some progress before suffering setbacks multiple times while swinging a bat.
More recent injury reports on Anthony have been extremely negative. He’s now not swung a bat in nearly two weeks. That prompted a new report from Pesky Podcast, a Red Sox podcast, which blamed Driveline for the injury.
The Red Sox have been involved with Driveline, which is a player development company that heavily relies on data, for some time now. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow, in particular, leans heavily on them for player development, and they seemed to butt heads with now-fired hitting coach Pete Fatse.
“I spoke with someone familiar with the Roman Anthony situation,” Pesky Podcast reported. “Roman was never supposed to be involved in day-to-day activities; he was supposed to be resting. Driveline had him doing dry swings daily, which likely contributed to the injury worsening into its current state. He has several weeks of recovery ahead, followed by rehab in Portland if everything goes smoothly.”
However, that report would quickly get refuted by Red Sox broadcaster Lou Merloni. He took to social media to make it clear that Driveline wasn’t at fault there.
“Normally I would not comment on something like this but c’mon. It’s just not true. His rehab will also be determined by which team is home, Portland or Worcester, whenever he ends up rehabbing,” Merloni wrote.
Part of the concern amongst fans about Driveline and Anthony comes from their emphasis on bat speed and pulling the ball. Anthony has elite bat speed, but in his second MLB season, he’s going through his second injury that he suffered swinging a bat.
The Boston Red Sox Sent Mixed Messages About the Roman Anthony Injury
GettyBoston Red Sox OF Roman Anthony speaks to a trainer
Initially, the Boston Red Sox wanted to make the Roman Anthony injury seem less severe than it really was, or they actually didn’t realize how severe it was. Neither option is great, but it’s clear that at least one was the case because Red Sox team president Sam Kennedy said there was no evidence of a tear on May 22nd.
“From what I understand, he’s got a sprain in the ligament at the base of the ring finger, there’s no evidence of the tear… The imaging is negative. There’s been a second opinion to confirm that, but hand injuries are really tough for baseball players,” Kennedy said.
Shortly after that, Anthony pushed back on that. Within a week, Anthony went on Baseball Isn’t Boring and announced he had a torn ligament, in direct contradiction with the team.
“I don’t know if it’s made clear, but it’s a partially torn ring finger ligament. My ring finger CMC (carpometacarpal), to be exact,” Anthony said.
Again, the Red Sox suffered backlash from this mix-up. Meanwhile, the question of when Anthony is actually going to return remains up in the air.
Driveline Has Been Heavily Criticized by Red Sox Fans
GettyBoston Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow
By now, the Boston Red Sox were supposed to have a core group of young hitters who were thriving in the majors. Roman Anthony is the headliner of that group. However, Marcelo Mayer, who is struggling in MLB, and Kristian Campbell, who is struggling in Triple-A, were also key pieces to that. That’s before considering the oft-injured Triston Casas.
On top of that, several other players have struggled offensively for the Red Sox, like third baseman Caleb Durbin, catcher Carlos Narvaez, and outfielder Jarren Duran. All of that has led to Red Sox fans looking for answers, and the use of Driveline has become a boogeyman within the Red Sox’ developmental system.
Major points of influence with Driveline include bat speed, launch angle, and pulling the ball. Using those as tools is one thing. Exclusively leaning on the approach is another, and many are concerned that it’s the only approach the front office wants. It’s a one-size-fits-all approach that Breslow and the Red Sox have been criticized for extensively.
“In my opinion, if you take a step back and think about Driveline as more of a mind-set or an approach to development and training, where you’re trying to be very clear in assessing where a player is, you’re trying to identify the goals that would allow them to realize major league value, and then you set up consistent programming and training with measurable progress toward that, to me, that’s what Driveline is,” Breslow said, per The Athletic.
In CBS Sports, Julian McWilliams noted there are concerns about this approach. In particular, that young players don’t always buy into Driveline, and that coaches have no experience with it.
“Inexperience within the coaching staff was also cited as a concern,” McWilliams wrote. “While Driveline’s impact is growing across the sport, some questioned whether the experience level of those implementing it aligned with the demands of major-league roles.”
None of that is to say Driveline has had no success stories. Rather, not everyone is bought in, and it’s clearly not working in Boston with any consistency. So, it’s not a surprise Red Sox fans are ready to blame Driveline for Roman Anthony’s issues.
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