How Triston Casas is stepping up for the Red Sox
Young star committed to leading
“He’s been kind of like our MVP this offseason.”
That’s how Alex Cora described Triston Casas on Friday, when the Red Sox hosted their annual Winter Weekend in Springfield. It’s significant praise, especially for a 24-year-old just out of rookie eligibility.
Casas doesn’t want to call himself a leader, he told the Herald last week, but other members of the Red Sox organization are doing that for him.
“He came here to visit hospitals, all that stuff, he went to the (Dominican Republic) when we, well, we had the group going there,” Cora added. “And then he went to Dallas (for Trevor Story’s minicamp), and he’s here. He went to Rookie Development Program. So, I think he understands who we are, where we’re at.”
Where the Red Sox are at is finally having a burgeoning young core of homegrown talent. There’s Casas, Rafael Devers, Jarren Duran, and Ceddanne Rafaela, plus the up-and-coming talents of Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel, the top prospects considered untouchable by the organization. Last week, Casas took it upon himself to join the prospects at the annual Red Sox Rookie Development Program. He wanted to get to know them and make himself available, should they need any advice or guidance.
“It’s been a great offseason for him physically, mentally, understanding who is he for us, and I’m very proud of him,” the manager said.
“He’s definitely coming into his own,” Trevor Story agreed. He just hosted Casas and several other Red Sox infielders for a minicamp near his offseason home in Dallas. “As a player and as a person, as a leader, as well.”
“He’s just wise beyond his years. He has a special mind for the game, and what he needs to do to get ready,” the shortstop added. “That was just his rookie season, and I think people forget that pretty quickly.”
If anything, it’s Casas who makes people forget that he’s just out of rookiehood. In his first full season in the Majors, he collected 113 hits, 24 home runs, and a team-leading 70 walks in 132 games, and finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting. After hitting just .133 with a .576 between Opening Day and the end of April, he batted .291 with a .917 OPS the rest of the season, and .317 with a 1.034 OPS after the All-Star break. He’s one of five rookies in franchise history to hit at least 24 home runs in a single season before turning 24, and the first to do so since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997.
“I think we all have a pretty good picture of what he can be, or what he is,” said hitting coach Pete Fatse. “I think that the thing that’s impressed me the most this offseason has been his leadership characteristics. For a young guy, I mean, I think we had four or five optional kind of group meetups this offseason, and he was at everything.
“And he’s kind of led by example, kind of taking on the younger guys. It was really cool to see him interact with the guys this week at the RDP program in Boston,” Fatse added. “Any time you have a guy like that, that’s comfortable in front of the room, I think that’s a good thing.”
As much progress as he’s made since last winter, Casas still sees room for improvement. “I feel like, for as big as I am, I don’t hit the ball as hard as I should, so I’m just trying to improve on my strength.”
“I think there’s still even more room for that power to show up,” Fatse agreed. “He’s just such a strong guy, just gonna build off last year.”
The Red Sox saw leadership potential in Casas years ago. “They’ve been talking to me about that type of vocal leadership. Really, since I got called up, they wanted to try to integrate that into my game,” Casas said. “Not so much from like, a following standpoint… more accountability type of things.
It’s “absolutely not” something that comes easily to him, the first baseman admitted. “It’s something that I had to work on,” he said. “Vulnerability is not a comfortable characteristic to get exposed for anybody… but effort and energy and attitude are always things you can control.”
“Even if it’s just in meetings, being vocal about what I’m thinking or what I’m looking for, and yeah, even with the younger players, just trying to help the learning curve be shortened anyway I can, I think, I try to do it.”
“He’s really integrated himself, you know, in the clubhouse, and I think he’s pretty comfortable now,” Story said. “And I think, as you saw in the second half, he’s one of the top first basemen in the game. And I think it’s gonna be that way for a long time.”