Triston Casas Shared ‘Special’ Moment With Childhood Hero During Rehab

The four-month-long journey from the injured list was a rigorous uphill climb for Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas, but one that provided the second-year slugger with a long-awaited moment that he'll never forget.

Casas started an 11-game rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester while battling back from a rib cage injury suffered in April. It not only allowed Casas to regain strength, get reacclimated to live baseball action and prepare to rejoin the Red Sox at the most critical point of their 2024 season, but it provided a "cool" unforeseen perk. While playing with Worcester, Casas met his all-time hero and six-time All-Star Joey Votto, one of four members on Casas' first baseman Mount Rushmore of first baseman -- Adrian Gonzalez, Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson are the other three.

"It was a cool moment for me to be able to share the field with him. He's been my favorite player for a really long time," Casas said, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. "It wasn't the circumstances that I would have imagined us meeting under, but it was still just as special. It was just an awesome experience to be able to stand next to him and pay my respects."

Votto, the 2010 National League MVP, signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, aiming to make a late-season return to the big leagues. The 40-year-old was assigned to Toronto's Triple-A affiliate the Buffalo Bisons, where Votto spent 31 games before officially announcing his retirement from baseball on Wednesday. Casas benefitted from the timing as Buffalo and Worcester crossed paths earlier this month at Polar Park, granting the 24-year-old rising Red Sox star an up-close view of Votto, not as a fan, but from a fellow competitor's perspective.

The experience, too, inspired Casas, who like Votto, was in the middle of a challenging stretch. Casas turned a slow start to 2023 into a competitive race toward the American League Rookie of the Year Award, finishing third in voting, which booked the left-handed-hitter as a key component to Boston's young and hungry lineup. And with 35 games left in the regular season -- including Saturday evening's contest against the Diamondbacks -- Casas still has plenty of time to leave an effective mark.

"It really motivated me in that moment to continue pushing on," Casas said, per Speier. "It's something that I'm going to think about for a really long time, even when I'm at the end of my career and in the middle, always trying to strive for that perfection like he is. I can appreciate a player of his caliber giving his all to the end."