Red Sox's Alex Cora Announces Latest Plans For Roman Anthony

Everyone who follows or works for the Boston Red Sox is bullish on Roman Anthony's future, but there's no denying that 2026 is an important year for the 21-year-old.

After missing the last month of the season with an oblique injury, Anthony will be expected to start from day one and help lead the Red Sox back to the playoffs. He looked like a star already in his 71-game sample this year, and he'll be expected to maintain that production at a minimum.

With Alex Bregman currently a free agent, Anthony looks like the biggest star in Boston's projected lineup. So what are the Red Sox expecting from him in year two, and what sort of role are they expecting him to play?

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How Alex Cora sees Anthony moving forward

On Wednesday, manager Alex Cora addressed those questions during his appearance on "Foul Territory," starting with where he sees Anthony batting in the order (Hint: He has no idea, which is entirely fair, because the roster could change in about a million ways).

“I see him hitting at the top of the lineup,” Cora said. “It’s gonna be a debate if we’re gonna lead him off, hit him second or hit him fourth. We’ll see how the roster looks when we get to Cincinnati next year for Opening Day.”

Alex Cora says there's going to be a debate whether Roman Anthony leads off, hits second, or hits fourth.

"We are far away from the best version of Roman Anthony, but the one we have right now and the one we're going to have next year is really, really good." pic.twitter.com/jLIICBVZm6
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) November 19, 2025

Cora went on to praise Anthony's defense, baserunning, and work ethic, just about everything one could want from a 21-year-old ballplayer. But one word of caution he had was that in a market like Boston, fans can sometimes expect a player of his age to become a fully-fledged superstar too early.

"As far as the player (goes), keep him healthy, let him be who he is," Cora said. "We are far away from the best version of Roman Anthony, but the one we have right now and the one we're going to have next year is really, really good."

Someday quite soon, Anthony could be a Most Valuable Player candidate, but Cora rightly doesn't want to bank on that happening in 2026. And in that sense, the pressure is on the Red Sox front office to make sure there are other stars surrounding him in the lineup by opening day.

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