The Red Sox are on a historic heater. Entering Sunday the Sox had won 17 of their last 19 games, including a season-high 12 straight, and had completely turned their season around after a dour first three months.

But one person who hasn’t been a part of this recent run is the guy who many expected would be the club’s best player.

Roman Anthony has been sidelined with a partially torn ligament in his right hand since May 4, and earlier this month the Red Sox sent the second-year outfielder to Fort Myers to continue his rehab away from the bright lights of Fenway Park. He has been separated from his teammates for most of the club’s recent winning streak, and according to interim manager Chad Tracy has not reached a point where he’s ready to resume hitting.

“Still progressing, still doing all the things he’s doing but no change in status yet,” Tracy said pregame Sunday.

When Anthony was moved to Florida Tracy offered two reasons for the change in scenery. One, the Red Sox had a lot of injured players and the clubhouse was starting to get crowded, and two, Anthony was getting asked about his hand on a daily basis by both reporters and club personnel, so they wanted him to have some space to focus exclusively on his recovery.

But recognizing how Anthony’s extended absence has prompted some criticism from outside observers, Tracy made a point to emphasize that as much as the Red Sox would love to have Anthony back — and as badly as Anthony wants to be back — this isn’t an injury he can realistically play through.

“You could say like a sore quad that’s different from like when you have an injury to a tendon or a ligament or whatever it is, it’s just different,” Tracy said. “Also, Roman’s skill is this guy can really hit, and I need my hand to hit.

“I fully support him, I know he wants to be back here, he’s vocalized as much to me, sees what’s going on and badly wants to be here, but we have to make sure he’s right and healthy,” Tracy continued. “And right now we’re playing good baseball and we have to make sure he’s right when he comes.”

Earlier in Anthony’s recovery the club occasionally had him take some swings to see how he felt, and at one point he even hit off a tee, but Tracy said now the club isn’t going to have him hit until the discomfort in his hand has completely subsided.

To that end, Tracy said he and Anthony have been in constant communication, and the hope is when he is eventually ready to return, he’ll be 100% with no lingering uncertainty.

“From the beginning the whole point is we don’t want that player to play injured, especially when it comes to swinging a bat, you know?” Tracy said. “So just continuing to get him where he feels he’s very confident in his mind that that hand feels good, that’s our goal.”