It’s been an up-and-down season for the Boston Red Sox, which will continue to intrigue moving forward. The Red Sox pitching is off to a historic start; their offense hits homers, and they do well enough in the bullpen to win more games. The Red Sox roster is so depleted that they’re making a particularly interesting move after the Triston Casas injury. He left the game Saturday due to a rib injury. This was followed by some ominous comments from manager Alex Cora postgame.
The Boston Red Sox Roster Move After the Injury
What leads people to believe Triston Casas is hitting the shelf is the Boston Red Sox are calling up catcher Tyler Heineman to the big leagues. The Red Sox are hurting for help, especially since there’s no other position players left on the 40-man roster.
Red Sox are summoning catcher Tyler Heineman to Pittsburgh for Sunday’s game, source confirms.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 20, 2024
The Red Sox roster, particularly the infield, is decimated by injuries, leading to poor defensive play that cost them games. It started with newly acquired Vaughn Grissom hitting the shelf toward the end of Spring Training. Trevor Story is now out for the year. Romy Gonzalez hit the shelf shortly after being called up, and Tyler O’Neill had a nasty collision with Rafael Devers. That landed O’Neill on the concussion list, and Devers has been day-to-day with a knee injury.
That doesn’t even mention the pitching staff holding water with arms going down left and right.
Triston Casas’ Injury and What It Means for the Lineup
The comments by Alex Cora aren’t very settling, and with the Red Sox roster move calling up a position player, he’ll likely be on the IL.
Is Casas OK?
Cora: “No. He’s not doing OK. They’re checking on him right now. You got the report from everybody so they’re checking on him. We’ll know more over the course of the night.”
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 20, 2024
Triston Casas picked up where he left off in 2023. He’s hitting .244/.337/.513 with six homers and three doubles. His OPS+ is 138, which is third on the Red Sox. The 24-year-old leads the Boston Red Sox with 10 RBIs. While Triston Casas owns an OPS of .850, no other regular in the lineup is over .800 outside of Conner Wong, who’s splitting time with Reese McGuire and Tyler O’Neill.
Without Triston Casas in there every day, the lineup undoubtedly looks like one the Worcester Red Sox would trot out in Triple-A. He’s a key cog to the Red Sox offense, and his absence will be felt up and down the lineup.
Triston Casas is in the 98th percentile for outs above average and doing his best to hold together a patchwork defense. With this injury, the Boston Red Sox will have three-quarters of their starting infield on the shelf. However, the likes of Pablo Reyes, David Hamilton, and Enmanuel Valdez are no help to the defense up the middle. Fans will likely notice a difference without Casas picking it at first base.
It’s hard to believe that this team is 12-10. The record might even be better without the defensive miscues that have plagued the team. That starts with the number of injuries we’ve seen.
Better days are on the horizon while Vaughn Grissom is on the mend, and Rob Refsnyder has returned. In the meantime, the Red Sox have to find a way to stay competitive, and they hope that Triston Casas’s injury isn’t too severe. Without him, this lineup won’t strike fear in anyone
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