New Red Sox star brings ‘powerful scrappiness,’ says teammate

Alex Bregman and Triston Casas are both expected to be big pieces in a new-look Red Sox lineup. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)Getty Images

On the same day Triston Casas stuck his neck out by saying Rafael Devers should play third base, Alex Bregman should play second base and the Red Sox should start their top three prospects in the minor leagues, the first baseman also provided quite the interesting scouting report on the team’s big free agent addition.

Asked what Bregman would bring to the Sox' lineup, Casas offered up a unique phrase: "powerful scrappiness."

“I think what he does best is just control the zone and swing at strikes,” Casas said of Bregman. “I think we do that collectively as a team really strongly as well, so he’s just gonna add to that. I think we go in there and we grind out at-bats and we have a real collective understanding of what we’re trying to do just in terms of getting into the bullpen early and wearing down pitchers.

“I think he provides a powerful scrappiness because he has such a short swing that he has the ability to extend at-bats, but if one’s left over the plate, they end up on the other side of the wall. His swing is going to play great at our home stadium.

“It’s just going to be an extra bat that they’re going to have to figure out, and it’s going to make a lot of our jobs easier just because he’s going to be on base and driving us in.”

Bregman, a two-time All-Star and World Series champion who has averaged 28 homers per 162 games so far in his major league career, should benefit from the Green Monster at Fenway Park. The Red Sox signed him because of his pull-side power and envision him batters second between lefty hitters Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers. Casas, then, is a candidate to hit fourth or fifth.

“We have honestly three or four guys that could be (the cleanup hitter),” he said. “Anywhere within that middle of the order, it’s gonna be special. There’s gonna be guys on base for the No. 3 hole, but also for the No. 7 hole, for the No. 8 hole. There’s gonna be plenty of opportunities for everybody to drive in runs, for me to score runs and for us to just score a lot in general.

“We’ve got righty power now that you can split us up with. The lineup can go a hundred different ways, and that’s the beauty of our team right now.