Eric Hosmer currently is on the injured list, but the veteran first baseman still could play an important role for the Red Sox through the final weeks of the 2022 season.
Hosmer has a connection with Triston Casas, who made his Major League Baseball debut Sunday in Boston’s 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park. In addition to being left-handed hitters who play the same position, Hosmer and Casas went to the same high school in South Florida. As such, it was rather fitting that the 12th-year pro was one of the first people the 22-year-old spoke with at the ballpark before playing his first game with the Red Sox.
“Hos saw him in my office, comes in, and he caught my attention with what he said,” Boston manager Alex Cora told reporters after Sunday’s game, per MLB.com. “‘It was meant to be for me to be here and mentor you.’ That caught my attention. That’s the cool thing about this game. You never know and you hear that, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is a cool day,’ and it made it a lot better.”
Mentoring Casas probably can be a primary focus for Hosmer, who might stay on the IL for the remainder of the season. Furthermore, Cora made it clear before Casas’ big league debut that he plans to have the 2018 first-rounder in the starting lineup in pretty much every game for the next month, including against left-handed pitching.
Casas’ next game will be in his native Florida on Monday when the Red Sox and the Rays meet for a late-afternoon contest at Tropicana Field. NESN’s full coverage of the series opener begins at 3 p.m. ET.
