The Red Sox had a successful season last year, making it to the Wild Card round despite several injuries and call-ups. With the amount of players that came up and down the Red Sox system over the course of last season, there were plenty of different lineups. In fact, six different players hit in the leadoff spot when the Sox first took the plate during each game. These players included:
This Lineup Change Could Benefit Red Sox Young Superstar For 2026
Duran started the majority of these games during the 2025 season. But recently, a major lineup change was announced. Alex Cora announced on Friday that going forward, Anthony would be Boston’s full time leadoff hitter. Anthony had a tremendous rookie season. In 71 games, he had a slash line of .292/.396/.463. He also had 27 extra base hits and a WAR of 3.1. At the age of 21, he’s taken on a lot of responsibility as he’s been labelled the future of the franchise. In terms of leadoff hitters, he might be the best option. But here’s the breakdown:
Roman’s Anthony’s Leadoff Stats
Roman Anthony has had a decent amount of experience batting leadoff at the major league level. Over the course of the 2025 season, he had 110 at bats when batting first in the order. In that timespan, he batted .336 and had a .439 on base percentage. He also hit six of his eight home runs from the leadoff spot. He also had more walks than RBIs (19 to 17).
An stats split that is arguably just as important as batting leadoff is batting with the bases empty. Chances are batting leadoff; the batter will be batting with the base empty more often than not. In those instances, he had 142 at bats, in which he hit .289 and had an OBP of .402. These stats prove he belongs high up in the lineup. He only had 18 at bats outside the top 3 in the order. Also, he provides winning baseball. The Red Sox went 40-44 without him, due to not being call up or his injury. With him in the lineup (or on the 40-man roster), the record completely flips around, as Boston went 46-27 with him on the roster. Anthony knows how to contribute to winning baseball and batting leadoff full time could take it to another level.
How Do The Rest Compare?
Now while the stats for him alone are pretty impressive and enough to sell him as the guy for this role, it wouldn’t be fair to at least show what the other options did with their opportunities in this spot. So, with the exception of Refsnyder (left in free agency), here are the other players who batted leadoff last year:
- Duran: 447 ABs, .255/.323/.418, nine home runs, 54 RBIs, 38 walks from leadoff
- Gonzalez: 35 ABs, .257/.333/.543, two homers, five RBIs, four walks
- Eaton: 24 ABs, .333/.360/.417, two doubles
- Yoshida: 9 ABs, .111/.111/.111, 1 RBIs
Duran was the leadoff guy for the majority of last year and did have an impact as seen here. But Anthony’s numbers are clearly better. Granted, Anthony had about a quarter of the at bats that Duran had from that spot, But Duran played more than twice as many games as he did. With different lineup arrangements, there’s definitely ways for both of them to fit in the lineup. But with Gonzalez’s injury and Eaton and Yoshida’s role unknown with this certain team, it’s between Anthony and Duran. It’s best that Anthony leads off with the given information.
How Could This Go?
This potential change could actually favor the Red Sox really well. As shown earlier, Roman Anthony’s on base percentage was 103 decimal points higher compared to his average from the leadoff position. These particular instances also led to 26 runs. So he can easily get on base and produce runs. That is the main goal of a leadoff hitter: just get on base. And he does that very well. Big things can come from this change; both for Boston and the young franchise star.
Main Photo Credits: Eric Canha-Imagn Images
