Friday night, the Triston Casas conversation continued in full force.
As he has managed in recent weeks, the first baseman left the most significant mark in the Red Sox' 3-2 win over the Giants in San Francisco
The shock and awe Casas has come on with heading into the final few months can be witnessed all over the place, with one exception: Rookie of the Year odds.
Heading into Saturday, the FanDuel odds had Casas as plus-3,000, putting five American League rookies in front of him when predicting who would win the award. Spoiler: The odds are going to be changing.
Casas' numbers are slowly creeping up on the current favorites (Masa Yoshida, Josh Jung) while already arguably eclipsing others in front of him (Gunnar Henderson). (Pitchers Tanner Bibee and Hunter Brown are the only other two standing between Casas and the top spot.)
The Red Sox slugger is hitting .256 with an .852 OPS and the second-most homers of any AL rookie (16), tied with Henderson and only behind Jung's 20.
So, is this a goal? Was this always a goal? That's what Casas was asked by WEEI.com while sitting in the JetBlue Park home dugout in Mid-March. His answer was ... well ... very much on brand.
Question: Are you a goal guy?
Casas: No.
Question: How about Rookie of the Year?
Casas: That's not even on my mind.
He continued, "Never been a goal guy. I feel l like expectations are limitations and setting a goal has a ceiling. There is a roof to it. I don’t think my potential has any limit to it. I want to be a Hall of Famer and to be a Hall of Fame doesn’t necessarily winning MVP or Rookie of the Year. It’s the overall package.
"It’s a common mindset of waking up and trying to be the best I can that day, not get too far ahead of myself. But just how can I maximize my potential for this little moment that I have. If I feel I maximized the most out of my day, that’s all I can ask myself."
The conversation continued with Casas reiterating the one-day-at-a-time approach, even going so far as to detail the routine that has allowed for this season-long evolution.
"I put my two feet on the floor. I know what I need to do every day," he said. "I have a good routine. I know myself really well and I just tell myself, ‘Let’s do it again.’
"The first thing I do is I wake up and think I have to put the mushrooms and the peppers on the grill and then I go take a shower."
Saturday morning, after once again building one of Major League Baseball's most impressive waves of momentum, the peppers went on the grill once again. It was time for another step toward the award he really isn't focusing on.
"Being Rookie of the Year would be nice. It would be a great accomplishment, especially with this class coming in. That would be the icing on the cake," he said. "But I just want to go out and play well."
