Anthony making progress toward return from right wrist sprain

ATLANTA -- There was something different about Roman Anthony at first glimpse when he walked to his locker on Friday afternoon.

The outfielder no longer had a brace on his recovering right wrist. And that, right there, signified progress.

A couple of minutes later, there was more progress. Anthony went out to play catch. After having a cortisone injection earlier this week, Anthony is experiencing some of the relief he was seeking.

“I'm out of the brace, as you mentioned, and got to do baseball activity today, so that’s a positive sign,” Anthony said. “I'm feeling good. So just continue to get with our training staff and trust what they have planned for me and continue to ramp up.”

The key for Anthony will be seeing how he feels when he grips and swings a bat.

“Based on the way I felt throwing today, hoping to get into that very soon,” Anthony said. “All I know is that the first step was getting out there, and the throwing kind of leads into the hitting, so gaining that confidence in throwing and really that sort of [flexing motion] that you make, so that felt great today.”

Friday was the first day Anthony was eligible to come off the 10-day injured list for the wrist sprain he suffered in Detroit on May 4. The reality is that he won’t play in Atlanta this weekend.

However, if everything goes right, there’s at least a chance Anthony could return when the Red Sox are in Kansas City from Monday through Wednesday.

“It depends on how he feels,” said Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy. “It's good that we're in a [better] spot. It's good where he's at, but it's really hard to say, like, ‘How's this thing gonna respond as he goes along?’ So each day he goes along and does something and feels better, we give him a little bit more. And we hope that would be the case, but it's hard to say until you see how he responds to everything.”

The 22-year-old hoped that he was just going to spend the minimum time on the IL, but he is now focused on taking the right steps to return as soon as he can for his 18-25 team.

“Going on the IL sucks at any point in time. Never want to do that,” said Anthony. “Sitting around watching baseball games, it's not what I want to do. Obviously, I'm gonna do what I can to be the best teammate I can, but for me, it's about getting out there [and playing]. So for me, I want to get out there [as soon as possible], being out there whenever it's ready and whenever we believe it's ready as a whole.”

For a Boston team that has slumped most of the season offensively, getting Anthony back could be a significant boost, even if he wasn’t clicking on all cylinders before the injury.