Triston Casas is one of the few active professional players who’s won an Olympic medal. But he’s not in a celebrating mood. The top Red Sox prospect is furious he didn’t win gold.
Japan beat the U.S. 2-0 in the gold medal game Saturday, shutting down Team USA’s lineup. The talent disparities were significant: The Nippon Professional Baseball Organization created a break in its season to allow its best players to suit up for Team Japan. MLB clubs, meanwhile, didn’t permit Team USA to take any players on 40-man rosters.
That left the club with an array of ex-major leaguers, including Scott Kazmir, Todd Frazier and Edwin Jackson, and some highly regarded prospects in the lower levels of the minors.
Casas, who plays for Double-A Portland, falls into the latter group. He says he won’t be flaunting his silver medal when he returns to his teammates.
“Overall, it hurts to have won the silver medal,” he said, via the Boston Globe. “I don’t want it, I honestly don’t. That silver medal isn’t something that’s going to be hanging up in my house, I’ll tell you that. I’m not embarrassed but it’s not what I came here to do. I came here to win a gold medal.”
Casas did his best to propel the U.S. to gold. The 2018 first-round pick hit a key home run that helped Team USA advance to the semifinals, his third long ball in a four-day span. He showed the world how good he really is.
Though Casas is unhappy with winning silver, he says competing in the Olympics was still an incredible experience. There will be no Olympic baseball when the Games head to Paris in 2024.
“There’s nothing but positives to take away from this experience,” he said. “Getting to play in the Olympics is such a [rare] feat for a baseball player. I definitely don’t take this lightly and this is an experience of a lifetime I’ll never forget.”
Casas will rejoin the Sea Dogs for their four-game series this week against the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, the Somerset Patriots. The slugger is slashing .271/.354/.424 with six home runs for Portland.
