2025 In A Discarded-On-The-Dugout-Floor Nutshell
After a fantastic and endearing start to his career as starting first baseman of the Red Sox, Triston Casas struggled both offensively and defensively before rupturing his patella a month into the season,
and is now a question mark going forward.
The Good
There is no better example of a clubhouse character than Triston Casas. Whether it’s his eccentric yoga on the Fenway green, his musings on airport concession prices, his connections with all members of Red Sox Nation from the youth to his elders and everyone in between, or carrying ESPN’s unlistenable broadcast with his humor, the 25-year-old is clearly an interesting guy and many of his teammates and coaches appear to love working with him. His willingness to learn is frequently lauded and, as a big-bodied first baseman who swings for power at the plate, he represents something rare on the roster.
Casas missed most of the last two seasons with differing injuries (more on that in a second) but when healthy for a full season as he was in 2023, he was what you’d want an everyday starter to be. Casas led the team in OPS (.856) in 2023, and was fourth in qualified first basemen in this stat behind Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman and Yandy Diaz, which good company to be in. He was seventh in walks taken, demonstrating that he patience he displayed on his climb through the minor league system would be a long lasting strength. When he saw a pitch he liked, he often drilled it, hitting 24 home runs, which placed him second on the team behind Rafael Devers. Had he qualified in 2024, his barrel percentage and hard hit percentage would have placed him squarely among the top 20 percentile in each category. That power for a batter so patient is a scary thing for pitchers who paint the corners.
The Bad
Well, those were all 2023 stats, of course, and as a big-bodied guy, the 6’4”, 255 pound Casas appears to be susceptible to injuries. In 2024 it was a rib injury that nagged him into missing nearly a hundred games. His 2025 injury could be seen as a freak accident, of course, but even when he was healthy he slashed just .182/.277/.303, all ticks down from his career averages, albeit in a small sample size. His strikeout numbers, already a worry, were in the process of ballooning from 25% to 31% last season, too.
Casas also struggles defensively. His -10 Outs Above Average in his last fully healthy season placed him in the second percentile, though he did have his moments, and it is comforting to have such a big target at first. Still, having someone with defensive issues at first isn’t what you want for a team that just led the league in errors for a second consecutive season.
Best Game or Moment
Despite his struggles and the short duration of his 2025 campaign, he had a few good moments, but the 10th inning walkoff on April 19 against the White Sox was the best one. He took an 85 mile-an-hour changeup to the seats with the bases loaded. Casas’s power was missed down the stretch.
(Side note: it’s funny to hear that the Red Sox were once 3-1 in extra-inning games, and had a positive record in one-run games, seeing how the rest of the season played out under these circumstances.)
One thing about Casas is his eloquence in breaking down the game. Imagine for a second you just drove in the game winning run, even in an early-season game. Now, try to imagine recalling events from earlier in the day and earlier in the inning including when you were preparing for your at-bat. There’s a reason I type and look at a screen for my livelihood rather than appear on camera, so I know people would have a field day with my breakdown of the game in this situation, but I also wouldn’t be driving a ball to the Monster to seal a close game, either. Moments after this RBI knock, Casas is calm, collected and intelligent. Mark my words: he’ll have a career on television after his playing days are over.
The Big Question
Is Casas going to come back healthy?
Are his stats going to improve in a way that justifies signing him to a long-term deal?
Oh look, two questions again. In light of Nathaniel Lowe’s moderate success after the Sox claimed him off waivers post-deadline — and the presence of viable first baseman/DH options like Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso on the market — one could delete the word “healthy” from the first question and still ask it. There is a distinct possibility that the 25-year-old finds himself on another team next year. That’s not entirely likely, though, as Casas still remains very cheap for the Sox and doesn’t have a ton of trade value to other teams after two lost years. And given the other question marks on the roster, such as the ones surrounding Alex Bregman and Trevor Story, penciling in Casas as the Opening Day starting first baseman is the easy move.
As to the second question, we’ve now seen multiple other players in their early 20’s sign extensions. But Casas has to prove he can stay healthy before the team invests in him long-term.
2026 and Beyond
Prior to the 2025 season, there were whispers that Casas would be dealt for a rotation piece, specifically one from the Mariners such as Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller, or Luis Castillo. But the thing about trades is that two teams have to agree to them. The trade deadline came and went and the Red Sox still found themselves in need of a bonafide number two starter, so it’s possible that those talks are revived, though one thing that may keep Casas out of them going forward — besides the injury history — is that the Red Sox have a surplus of outfielders and not so many corner infield options.
Casas is under team control through the 2028 season when he will be 28. He will hopefully have mirrored his production in 2023 and calmed his strikeouts down. He’ll also hopefully not have had any season-altering injuries. When Casas is on, he’s really on, and he deserves a fair shake at being a major part of this team during this contention window. But time waits for no one. So if he’s not living up to his end of the bargain as an every day starter, either medically or through offensive or defensive production, look for the team to seek with an alternative in short order. I just hope whoever that is can light up a room as well as Casas can.
