Red Sox’s Triston Casas Setting Sky-High Bar With Massive Breakout Goal

Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas isn’t a content individual.

Casas was limited to 63 games last season with torn cartilage in his left rib cage, delaying what could’ve been the 25-year-old’s first major big-league breakout. The 25-year-old underwent rehab, minor league assignments with Boston’s Triple-A affiliate and returned before the regular-season finale. Still, there wasn’t much left to play for as the Red Sox suffered their third consecutive postseason miss.

Now, back at spring training with the team, Casas is on a mission. The young slugger is set on cementing himself as a household name not only in Boston but across the league with an eyebrow-raising goal: reaching the 40-home run, 120-RBI mark. Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees were baseball’s only hitters to reach those jaw-dropping figures last season.

“I think that is the expectation for the first baseman of the Boston Red Sox. I think if I’m not able to do that, then I don’t deserve a job here,” Casas said, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. “I don’t feel that’s out of my reach. I feel like that’s something that’s very possible for me to accomplish.

“I appreciate (Craig Breslow’s) vote of confidence in myself, but that is the caliber of hitter that I need to be to stay in this position that I am. I’ve put in plenty of work to be able to go out there and accomplish it, but it’s just a matter of staying healthy and being out there on the field for, say, 150-plus games. I think that it’s very reasonable.”

Breslow claimed throughout the offseason that Casas is capable of hitting 40 home runs and driving in 120 RBIs, vocalizing major confidence in the homegrown stud. It’s no easy feat to reach and would certainly put Casas on the map, in company not just with some of Boston’s all-time elite first basemen but the organization’s greatest hitters. That’s the company Casas himself intends to stamp his name alongside.

J.D. Martinez, who spent five seasons with the Red Sox, is the team’s most recent player to hit those marks after crushing 43 homers with 130 RBIs in 2018. Martinez finished fourth that season in the American League MVP voting and helped the franchise win its last World Series championship.

Two seasons ago, Casas broke out during the second half of 2023. The left-handed-hitting slugger slashed .317/.417/.617 with 15 home runs and 38 RBIs — after hitting .228 through the season’s first 78 games — to sneak into the AL Rookie of the Year campaign and finish third in the voting.

“My swing plays well in our home field,” Casas said. “If I’m able to control the inner part of the plate and drive it to left-center, I think that’s the Mount Rushmore of a great hitter, being able to take an inside pitch and drive it to the opposite field. I think that’s the next step in my game.”

Boston could certainly benefit from a Casas breakout. Breslow and the front office rebuilt the team’s pitching staff and added two-time All-Star Alex Bregman to the lineup with hopes of restoring the franchise’s winning tradition.

Casas hasn’t experienced playing in the postseason, and exploding at the plate as he intends could make for perfect timing this upcoming season.