2 weeks Ago
BOSTON — On an otherwise lackluster night for the Boston Red Sox, Triston Casas continued to show signs he’s emerging from a season-opening slump. The Red Sox first baseman smashed his second three-run homer in as many nights in an 8-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners. This past month has represented the worst month of Casas’ career.
In his first 23 games this season, he’s posted a 39 WRC+ while hitting .171 with a .570 OPS.
Manager Alex Cora moved him down in the order from his customary fourth spot recently to alleviate some pressure. But Casas noted a small mechanical tweak he made with hitting coach Pete Fatse this week to move the positioning of his hands further away from his body seems to be working. Advertisement “An adjustment was necessary,” he said.
“I felt like I was getting to a good spot timing-wise, and still missing the ball. So might have just been the way my barrel was entering the zone. “I’ve got really long arms, long levers, so maybe trying to stay so tight to my body isn’t such a good thing,” he said of what he’d done at the start of the year.
“I need to work on getting extended and catching ball a little more out front (with the bat) and it could start with my stance. Me and Pete and the rest of the staff have been working really hard on it, just trying to get it right. The last couple days have been a good indication of hopefully good things to come.
” Casas has just three hits on the homestand: Wednesday’s three-run homer, Tuesday’s three-run homer and Saturday’s walk-off single in extra innings. But if the quality of contact is any indication of the effectiveness of the adjustments, he’s headed in the right direction. Casas’ homer on Tuesday was to straightaway center and went 396 feet off the bat at 105.
6 mph. On Wednesday in the eighth, he pulled a homer to right 372 feet at 105.9 mph.
“He got one yesterday and today he caught up with the fastball. You can see his takes, he walked again, so that’s good,” Cora said. Though Rafael Devers is still scuffling at the plate, hitting just .
170 in his last 15 games, albeit with a major-league leading 21 walks on the season, getting Casas’ bat going will be key for the Red Sox offense. Jarren Duran has started to turn a corner of late and extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-hit night on Wednesday. But a majority of the offense this season has come from Trevor Story, Alex Bregman, Kristian Campbell and Wilyer Abreu.
The Red Sox have been winning, but Casas’ bat is desperately needed if the team is going to sustain their recent success. Advertisement “A lot of people are working right now, grinding with him,” Cora said after Tuesday’s game. “Hopefully this is the beginning of something good.
We’ve just got to stay patient, try to help him out through the process too. Sometimes us as coaches, we let the players do their thing, and he’ll figure it out. We’ve got to push.
We need him. We need him to hit the ball hard.” Casas started slowly in April 2023, his rookie year, but even that month, he drew more walks and was getting on base.
He labeled this stretch the toughest thus far in his career. “I had a little bit of a different start,” he said of 2023. “I felt like I didn’t have a good position in my body as early in the season as I do now.
I feel like I’m balanced. I feel like I’m taking better swings than I did at ‘23.” “I know the results, numbers-wise, aren’t as good as they were that month,” he added.
“I think this is my worst statistical month of my career so far, but that’s OK. There’s still a lot of game left, and I’m gonna stay positive every day trying to figure this out sooner rather than later.” Casas’ homer was a good sign for the offense, but it was too little, too late on Wednesday as the Red Sox were shut down by Seattle starter Emerson Hancock, who allowed two runs over six innings.
Red Sox starter Sean Newcomb battled through five innings of work, allowing a three-run homer in the fourth inning, which accounted for much of the damage. The Mariners added two more runs each against relievers Brennan Bernardino and Josh Winckowski. Despite the loss, the Red Sox, at 14-12, still trail only the Yankees and Tigers for the most wins (15) in the American League.
Casas’ homer on Wednesday was the 10th straight game in which the Red Sox have homered. The Mariners’ 12-game streak is the only longer active streak in the majors. Getting Casas’ bat back in order could help the Red Sox start to build a lead in what’s been a league full of parity thus far.
(Photo: Jaiden Tripi / Getty Images).
