Triston Casas’ Rookie Surge Reminiscent Of Former Red Sox Star’s

The Boston Red Sox and manager Alex Cora preached patience when it came to rookie first baseman Triston Casas.

Casas went through a myriad of struggles early in the season, including hitting .133 over the first month of the campaign while making several miscues at his corner infield position. The 23-year-old didn’t look like a top power-hitting prospect then, but he does now, rewarding the Red Sox for sticking with him.

Casas headlined Boston’s 8-6 win in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader against the New York Mets at Fenway Park. He recorded the first multi-home run of his career by belting two round-trippers off Mets ace Max Scherzer, including a go-ahead blast to straightaway center field in the bottom of the sixth.

The performance continues Casas’ recent tear at the plate, as he’s batting .341 with a 1.090 OPS and seven homers in his last 27 games, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. And that type of surge had Cora comparing Casas to what a former Red Sox star went through his rookie season.

“He just keeps going and growing,” Cora told reporters per Speier. “It’s very similar, kind of like Dustin (Pedroia) in (2007).”

Pedroia famously overcame a terrible opening month of his first full season in the big leagues en route to winning Rookie of the Year honors.

It doesn’t seem that award will be in the cards for Casas, who is up to 14 home runs with 35 RBIs and a .244 batting average on the season. He would have to keep this hot streak going and then some to climb up the board and pass favorites like Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, who was an All-Star this season, and teammate Masataka Yoshida.

But just getting compared to Pedroia was enough for Casas, at least in the moment.

“Anytime I can get my name mentioned in the same sentence as Dustin Pedroia, I think I’m doing something right,” Casas told reporters per Speier.