Triston Casas Applauded By Red Sox Teammates After Rookie Year

Triston Casas underwent his first full big league season with the Boston Red Sox, emerging as one of Major League Baseball’s bright young players after an ice-cold rookie year start in 2023.

That road wasn’t easy for Casas.

In the first 25 games of the season, Casas only managed to hit .133, striking out 27 times through 75 at-bats. The defense also was an early concern as adjusting to playing first base at the big league level proved to be a challenge for the 23-year-old.

From then on, Casas flipped the switch, finishing the season as a legitimate American League Rookie of the Year candidate.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” Justin Turner said, per Molly Burkhardt of MLB.com. “He’s well beyond his years when it comes to knowing his swing and having an approach and having a gameplan and knowing what he wants to do. And not in a closed off way either. He’s willing to have conversations and talk about different things and (I) really got to see him open up a lot this year.”

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In July, Casas was a nightmare at the plate for pitchers, batting .349 with a .758 slugging percentage and seven home runs. His approach at the batter’s box was polished and disciplined by then, drawing 11 walks for 19 strikeouts on the month. From then on, Casas established himself as one of the league’s biggest young power threats.

The left-handed slugger batted .263 with 24 home runs and 65 RBIs, drawing 70 walks which was second among all MLB rookies.

“He’s a special guy, let me say that,” Kenley Jansen said, per Burkhardt. “Doing a lot of different things, unique things, and I like that. I’m having fun seeing him (after) he battled the first two months, and he stuck with his guns and his routine and he had an unbelievable year. I’m so happy for him.”