Any realistic shot Anthony had to become Boston’s first Rookie of the Year winner since Dustin Pedroia in 2007 likely ended when he suffered a left oblique strain that ended his season on Sept. 2.
Though the Red Sox still made the postseason for the first time since 2021, the loss of Anthony likely played a role in manager Alex Cora’s club being unable to get past the Yankees in the Wild Card Series.
Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz was the unanimous choice, receiving first-place votes on the ballots of all 30 BBWAA voters.
Another member of the A’s, shortstop Jacob Wilson, finished second. Anthony collected three second-place votes and 15 third-place votes.
For Anthony to finish in the top three despite only 303 plate appearances was an indicator of how much of an impact he made from the time he made his MLB debut on June 9 through that night at Fenway in early September when he took his final swing of the season.
“The kid, he’s a great at-bat, he’s a great baserunner,” Cora recently told MLB Network. “Defensively, we joked with him, ‘You’re a smart individual, the first play you had at the big league level, you let it go through your wickets, so your standards were very low.’ Then after that, he became a monster in the outfield. He was a plus defender.
“Just a good kid. He understands what wearing that jersey means and [losing him] was a big hit for us. But at the same time, if you look at his season, you know who he is, you know what he’s going to do. Just very happy I’m going to be able to manage him for at least the next two years.”
While Anthony’s oblique injury was an untimely blow, it won’t impact his offseason.
“Talking to Roman, he’s completely asymptomatic,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas on Monday. He’ll have a fully healthy offseason. He should start swinging in a couple of weeks, which is normal for his offseason.
Anthony led all rookies (minimum of 200 plate appearances) with a .396 OBP. His 140 OPS+ was the highest by a Red Sox player in his age-21 season since Ted Williams in 1940.
While there was skepticism the Sox could stay in the playoff race after dealing star slugger Rafael Devers to the Giants on June 15, the offense held up nicely, in large part due to the emergence of Anthony.
The 21-year-old left-handed hitter was worth 3.1 wins above replacement (per Baseball Reference), slashing .292/.396/.463 with 18 doubles, eight homers and 32 RBIs.
