Red Sox Injury Updates: Checking In On Boston's Rehabbing Players In Worcester

“I’m taking it super day-by-day. There’s no plan, there’s no ‘you gotta be ready by this time’. For me it’s about taking one pitch at a time and we’ll reassess how I feel after tonight. There’s no plan, no flight that’s booked or anything like that,” Roman Anthony explained to the media prior to making his latest rehab appearance at Polar Park.

The Boston Red Sox have been one of the hottest teams in baseball, and they’ve been doing it without a handful of players who were meant to contribute in key roles for the club. Now, as the team prepares for a key weekend series against their dreaded rivals, the New York Yankees, they might be getting reinforcements.

Prior to Tuesday night’s game, Anthony had his rehab stint reassigned to Worcester after playing the previous week in Portland. The star outfielder, who has been out of action since being placed on the injured list on May 7, has looked comfortable in his return to action as he’s gone 5-for-19 across six games including two huge home runs.

With Anthony, the biggest hurdle to getting back on the field was trying to be pain free while swinging a bat and making contact especially against high velocity. Now, there doesn’t seem to be any issue. He’s been able to take good swings, bad swings and check his swing without any issues occurring over the past few days in Portland and Worcester.

Despite having no set plan for when he would be activated, the outfielder admitted he was to play back-to-back games in Worcester and play the field for nine innings before assessing how he was doing. Following Wednesday night’s game, it was the first time he played back-to-back full games in the outfield since early in the season.

“I’m feeling good, just gotta make sure that everything is really good and where it needs to be before we make a decision and kind of go from there. As far as right now, everything’s good again just trying to continue to get back into that rhythm in the box, the outfield and the bases as a complete player.

“We’re in a situation now where, when that decision is to come back and play with the team it’s full-go and we’re in a great situation as a team. I want to get back up there as fast as I possibly can. All three of us want to do that. But I think there’s part of that, that has to make sure we are going and leaving no doubts at least leaving our rehab assignments.”

Anthony wasn’t the only rehabber in Worcester, as both Trevor Story and Isiah Kiner-Falefa have been working their way back from their respective injuries. Both have been rehabbing for roughly the same amount of time as Anthony, but have remained just in Worcester as they traveled to Syracuse with the team.

For Kiner-Falefa, while he wants to get back to the majors and help the club with the playoff race, he also knows that taking his time to be in the best shape would be most important.

“I feel like I could be sharper. I feel good right now, I don’t feel at my best and with the amount of time I’ve taken off. I need the at-bats. I want the at-bats, and I want to come back and contribute. It’s not my decision, but the extra games would help a lot. Another week would be nice, but it’s not my decision,” Kiner-Falefa explained following Tuesday night’s game. In it, he wound up going 1-for-3 with two walks while playing at second base. Overall in his rehab process, the infielder has gone 2-for-18 with one RBI in six games.

He also admitted that his timing is not quite there, but he feels close. He described it as being close to how he felt last season when he played with Toronto during their run in the playoffs. The goal for him is to win a World Series and if it means taking extra time rehabbing to be able to contribute when it matters most, he’s willing to do just that. Injury-wise. Kiner-Falefa stated he felt healthy and that he’s focusing on the baseball side of his progression.

The main thing that Kiner-Falefa is looking to work on is his consistency, going as far as to say that his at-bats in Syracuse were terrible and weren’t close to where he wanted to be. However, after Tuesday's game he felt he was heading in the right direction as he saw the ball well. He did admit that he was still late on his swing and wanted to improve his timing.

The final member of the rehabbing trio, Story, has had the toughest go of things. In eight games with Worcester, he’s gone 4-for-29 with two RBIs and 10 strikeouts. The shortstop has been out of action since May 14 as he recovered from his sports hernia surgery.

While defensively he’s looked fine, it’s his work at the plate that has been questionable. After starting his rehab going 3-for-9, he has since gone 1-for-20 including six strikeouts in his last 12 at-bats. The right-handed hitter has shown a tendency in his latest rehab appearances to chase pitches that are away, especially down and away. On Tuesday, he either struck out or made a groundout on a pitch that would be on the outer portion of the plate, along with being at around his knees or lower. Wednesday’s game was more of the same as he struck out three times, including twice on pitches that were down and away.

There was a moment Wednesday night where there might have been some concern, as Story made a diving attempt on a ground ball before coming up slowly.

“First dive [since rehabbing] and kind of the belt buckle landed on the scars. It was the first time so it just kind of dug in a little bit.”

He would remain in the game after the play, with there being no real concern and the team taking it as an expected reaction from such a landing.

Despite the slow start in his rehab process, Story still has his sights set on rejoining the team in New York.

“We haven’t decided yet [on the next step], we’re going to talk about it tonight [Wednesday night], all the possibilities are open still. Some point in New York is the goal. Like I said, I gotta reconvene with the boys and talk it out.”

As of now, Story isn’t sure if he’ll have a day off on Thursday or play for Worcester. Whatever the decision is, Story feels good and says he's ready to go when the big-league club comes calling.