Triston Casas’s return likely won’t come before end of Red Sox’ homestand
Casas has been rehabbing with Triple-A Worcester since late July.
Triston Casas is expected to return to the Red Sox’ lineup soon, but he still has some work to do in his rehab stint before getting called back up to the majors.
Alex Cora gave another hopeful injury update on the first baseman ahead of Saturday’s game against the Astros, though he’s not expecting Casas to be back with the team in the next few days.
“He’s playing today. We’ll talk to him tonight, just to see how he feels,” the Red Sox manager told reporters. “The quality of his at-bats are good, and he feels like he’s getting close, but we’ll see. I don’t see him playing here tomorrow. I don’t see him playing against Texas, but if that changes it changes. I think he’s still working on his craft.”
Casas has played in seven games with Triple-A Worcester since he began his rehab stint in late July, marking his first action since his rib injury in April. He’s hitting .286 with a .839 OPS, but has yet to hit a homer.
Casas has noted that he’s still had some pain in his ribs when he’s taken swings during the rehab stint, causing a brief uproar last week over his comments. Cora said though that Casas was “fine” last Saturday as he’s continued his rehab.
“Right now, it’s him. It’s up to him,” Cora said of Casas’s rehab on Friday. “He’s healthy. Like I said, he’s been taking grounders for a long time. I think the baseball part of it, the physical part of it, he’s ready to go. Now the timing of it. He will let us know.”
The Red Sox’ current homestand concludes following their upcoming three-game set with the Rangers on Wednesday. They hit the road right after to take on the Orioles in Baltimore for a four-game set.
Boston’s lineup has been fine as of late without Casas, though it would obviously welcome his return. Casas emerged as one of the best hitting first basemen in baseball in the second half of last season, hitting .317 with a 1.034 OPS and 15 homers over 54 games.
Casas got off to a good start to the season in the few weeks he played before the injury. He hit .244 with a .857 OPS and six homers over 22 games. His 13 at-bats per home run would be the top mark on the team if he had enough at-bats to qualify.
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