Apr 23, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox first base Triston Casas (36) hits a three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the eighth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
The Boston Red Sox have had a solid offense so far in 2025, but it hasn't been the powerhouse optimists dreamed it could be.
It's hard to complain about how many of the Red Sox's hitters have answered the bell. But while Alex Bregman, Wilyer Abreu, and Kristian Campbell have far exceeded expectations, Triston Casas has been by far the biggest disappointment.
Casas entered the season as the Red Sox's cleanup hitter, a 25-year-old first baseman with remarkable bat speed who had put up well above-average statistics through his first three seasons in Major League Baseball. It's still early, but not early enough to ignore how ugly the numbers are.
Through 28 games, Casas is slashing .184/.279/.306. Combine that with mediocre defense at first base, and he's been worth -1.0 bWAR, the worst mark on the team among position players by a wide margin.
On Friday, Sean McAdam of MassLive gave a searing critique of Casas' performance and mused that the lefty was lucky to still be in the majors, because his performance had been bad enough to ship him down to Triple-A Worcester.
"When Casas smoked two homers in the span of two games at the end of the last homestand, it seemed as though the first baseman was figuring things out," McAdam wrote. "Alas, not yet.
"Six extra-base hits in 94 at-bats is not what the Red Sox were expecting. Casas is fortunate that there are no other obvious options within the system, or else he might already be in Worcester, trying to fix his swing."
There's no doubt that Casas has been bad. Inexcusably bad, on the whole. But there are still signs in his peripheral metrics (bat speed, exit velocity, strikeout rate, etc.) that suggest better days are ahead.
Maybe McAdam is right. Maybe on a different team, the Red Sox would have rolled with someone else in Casas' place by now. But all manager Alex Cora and the front office can do is work with the team they have, and this team's best chance to achieve its goals is still for Casas to heat up.
