BOSTON — New Red Sox catcher Adley Rutschman spent his fourth day with the club doing a full battery of baseball activities Friday, and there’s a sense among club decision-makers that he could return from the injured list and make his club debut rather soon.Rutschman, who is on the IL with wrist inflammation, could go out on a rehab assignment as soon as this weekend, interim manager Chad Tracy said Friday, though no decision has been made on a specific date yet.“It’s possible. I’ll just leave it at that,” said Tracy. “We have not discussed an exact date on that yet. He’s doing some more stuff today, doing some more check-ins. We’re still ironing down what’s going to happen there based on how he feels and what everybody thinks. We don’t know yet, but I’d answer that and say it’s possible.”Rutschman last played in a game for the Orioles on July 18 in Houston before being sidelined with the wrist injury. When the Red Sox acquired him Monday for a package of Carlos Narváez, Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, Enddy Azocar and a player to be named later, they knew he wouldn’t take the field right away. Boston’s medical staff has taken the past four days to gather information from Rutschman about how he feels.Now, a return to game action should be in play soon. The WooSox are home this weekend and, after Monday’s off day, will remain at Polar Park for a six-game series against Buffalo that begins Tuesday. There’s at least a chance Rutschman could join the Red Sox during their seven-game road trip to Toronto and Pittsburgh next week.Anthony takes another stepOutfielder Roman Anthony, who had been hitting off a tee and taking soft toss flips as the first steps of his hitting progression in recent days, has advanced to the point where he’s able to take batting practice off a machine, Tracy said.Anthony is still not at the point where he is hitting off high velocity, but he keeps taking meaningful steps forward after swinging a bat for the first time in months late last week.“From what I understand, he’s taking swings and feels really good,” Tracy said. “There may be things post-(hitting) where you have a little soreness, but that’s pretty expected at this point.“All things are positive. Let him keep taking steps, temper expectations until he crosses and checks all these boxes, then we’ll see when we can get him here.”Anthony has been out since May 4 with a torn ligament under his right ring finger. He was unable to swing pain-free for a period of time spanning approximately nine weeks before doing so last week. The next step will be high-velocity hitting, potentially off a Trajekt machine that simulates opposing pitchers. From there, the Red Sox could have Anthony participate in a simulated game or live batting practice session or go straight to a rehab assignment. Because Anthony has been able to run, field and throw during his absence, there’s a feeling he could ramp up quickly, too.“He hit yesterday and today, too. He actually introduced some machine (work) today, which is good. It’s kinda in that phase now where he’s gonna do some of that,” Tracy said. “He’ll do that for a bit and see how his hand responds. The next thing would be doing some Trajekt, but we just introduced that (machine step).”
