Triston Casas is a man of routine.
The Boston Red Sox first baseman is very intentional in how he prepares for games — from sunbathing to eating before each at-bat. And even while the game is going on he remains in the moment and takes advantage of what’s in front of him in order to have a successful plate appearance.
That rang true Thursday when Casas stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the eighth inning in the Red Sox’s series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays. Zach Pop grabbed at his hamstring after throwing a pitch to Casas and needed to be helped off the field. While Pop was walking off and the Blue Jays were gathered on the mound, Casas remained in the batter’s box.
Casas wasn’t worried about a pitch clock violation, though.
The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams asked Casas what he was doing during that time and the rookie revealed that, “He said he was using the injury on the field as his time to visualize some things in the batter’s box. With the pitch clock, he noted, you don’t have time to do that.”
The pitch clock has impacted how batter’s prepare for each pitch in order to avoid a violation, and Casas saw an opportunity to take some extended time to see the field a bit better.
Casas ended up flying out, but the Red Sox went on to sweep the four-game series with an 11-5 win.
