ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Triston Casas has his routines. He can usually be found hours before the game in solitude on the field, bare-footed, executing a series of stretches and movements. After? After some decompression and media responsibilities, it's back to the weight room, no matter how late the hour.
And that's not even mentioning all the intricacies that can be found in between the lines throughout nine innings.
This how Casas operates as a major league player, one who has now been in the big leagues for exactly one year. It all seems to be working out. This was evident on his year anniversary, with the first baseman leading the Red Sox to their 7-3 win over the Rays with a mammoth opposite field, three-run home run.
It has been a strange, winding, and productive road.
“I feel like I change, honestly, daily. So, like, looking back to my at-bats last week or last month, I feel like I’m not even the same person," Casas said. So, a year ago feels like an eternity to me. I feel like the strides that I’ve made in the last year, I’m a different person, different player. Just positively, though. I would never change for the worse. I think just always trying to get better any way that I can every day has put me in this position. So, I feel like I’ve changed a lot.”
Casas' current lot in life has become incredibly impressive.
Since the All-Star break, Casas has the fifth-best OPS in all of baseball (1.113), hitting .340 along the way. His 14 homers during that span is also fourth-most in the big leagues.
For the season, the rookie is hitting .268 with an .870 OPS and 23 home runs, a far cry from June 12, the last day we Casas' batting average lived below the Mendoza Line (.200).
"He’s a good hitter, man," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "He knows what he's doing. He's very patient with his process and he dominates the strike zone. That's the most important thing. He’s hitting the ball the other way now. I think that was the last step this season and you see the results. I haven’t seen too many of those going that way up until Masa (Yoshida) did it too. He’s been solid. I think he’s going to keep hitting fourth in this lineup. Numbers wise, he's probably one of the Top 10 hitters in the league. And he keeps getting better."
While American League Rookie of the Year might be an uphill climb because of Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson - who has the advantage of excelling in the field - the Red Sox certainly seem to have found one of their foundation pieces.
Considering where he started exactly a year ago, that's saying something.
To listen to Casas talk about his year-long journey, click the following audio file:
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