What Red Sox Coaches Want Triston Casas To Change About His Game

Almost three months into the baseball season and Red Sox manager Alex Cora has been forced to change things up in the infield to help the team be better defensively and not give up as many games as they have this season.

The shake-up includes Kiké Hernández not getting everyday reps at shortstop and Justin Turner increasing the amount of time he spends on first base, which would leave Triston Casas as the odd man out, but Cora doesn’t plan to send Casas to Triple-A — the plan is to make Casas a better first baseman, according to The Athletic’s Chad Jennings.

“You give yourself a chance to win games (by) catching the baseball,” Cora told The Athletic. “We went with our best defensive alignment. It’s not that we’ve given up on Triston, but we’ve got to keep working with him because he needs to be better, too.”

It’s not that Casas is the worst defensive first baseman, but he is far from being a dominant force on the bag, recording three errors, minus-6 defensive runs saved and minus-4 outs above average this season in 51 appearances in the diamond.

“As good as he is with his hands and stuff, those numbers shouldn’t be that bad,” Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vázquez told Jennings. “To be honest, I think there is some adjustment (needed). We need to sit down with him, and the work (itself) needs to change. He likes to work — it’s not lack of work — I think it’s just us figuring out, ‘This is what we need to do, and this is what you’re going to do.'”

Casas believes in himself defensively, even if the numbers are not in his favor.

“I personally think I’m a really good defensive player. I know the numbers might not show that,” Casas told Jennings. “… Tough plays should be made at this level, which is why I’m here to execute them. But ultimately, I feel like if I can’t do them, not many people in the world can do them, because I’ve got that much potential.”

Vázquez and infield coach Carlos Febles told Jennings that Casas’ pregame routine often includes working on a variety of plays that rarely ever occur in an actual game.

“I don’t disagree with (his intent),” Febles told Jennings. “But sometimes it’s like, why work on something that only happens once or twice a year? … If you have to go to catch the ball over there, we’re in trouble. It’s the one here (close to the bag). That’s what we’re missing, so that’s what we need to (improve).”

“I personally think I’m a really good defensive player.”

Triston Casas

Even though Casas has his pregame routine in place, Vázquez and Febles want him to work on everyday plays that happen multiple times in a game.

“I think I’m in a really good place with my footwork (and) with my handwork,” Casas said. “The coaches obviously want the best for me. They’re going to try to get me better in every single way, shape and form that they can. But overall, I think everything that I’m doing is to the best of my abilities, which is all that I can control.”

Casas will get the opportunity to start at first base in the series finale against the Colorado Rockies Wednesday as Justin Turner will work the opposite corner allowing Rafael Devers to get the night off.