This was my final project for my New York Times program- a "feature story" (which basically means it's all information and no opinions at all)!
Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was not in Tokyo to compete with Team USA in the Olympics. Players who were on a 40-man roster in the MLB stayed with their teams during the Games, so Votto was busy here in the US as he finished a month of July in which he won National League Player of the Month. However, there was another first baseman whose stance looks very similar to Votto’s who was playing for the American team.
“I don’t really try to copy everything that he does, but the other day I hit a home run in the sim game and looking back on it, I was like, ‘Wow, I actually do look like Joey Votto,’” Triston Casas told Christopher Smith of Masslive last year. Casas also chokes up on the bat in two-strike counts just like Votto does, and he hopes that modeling his game after Votto can bring him similar success.
“The stats speak for themselves,” Casas said in the same interview. “He was one of the best hitters (the past decade) and that’s when I was growing up watching baseball. And being a left-handed first baseman, Joey Votto is not a bad guy to emulate.”
Casas, a 21-year old prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization, hit third or fourth in every game for the USA in the Olympic tournament on a team that ended up losing to Japan in the gold medal game. Casas reached base eight times in 23 appearances (.308 OBP), but three of his five hits left the ballpark. His three home runs comprised almost half of Team USA’s total of seven, and he was tied with former MLB journeyman Danny Valencia of Israel and Korea’s Kim Hyunsoo for the most in the tournament.
Despite his individual success, Casas was not pleased with the team’s final result. He told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, "That silver medal isn't something that's going to be hanging up in my house, I'll tell you that. I'm not embarrassed, but it's not what I came here to do. I came here to win a gold medal." But, his overall takeaway was positive. “Getting to play in the Olympics is such a [rare] feat for a baseball player. I definitely don’t take this lightly and this is an experience of a lifetime I’ll never forget. Just the whole experience, getting to live in the village, getting to see all the other athletes and playing such high-level baseball, such big-time games, it did a lot for me.”
When he’s not playing in the Olympics, Casas currently plays in Portland for the Sea Dogs, the Red Sox Double-A affiliate. This season, he’s hitting .271 with six home runs in 49 games (he missed time for the Olympics). The 2018 first-round draft pick is ranked highly among prospect evaluators- 28th by MLB.com, 22nd by Fangraphs, and 47th by Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The three publications also agree that Casas is the #2 prospect at first base, behind the Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson.
Therefore, Red Sox fans who watched the Olympics may be hopeful to see Casas at Fenway Park with the major league club this year. There have been some prospects who have made the jump from Double-A to the Majors (skipping Triple-A) before, including former Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello (with Detroit) and Padres infielder Manny Machado, but the Red Sox have not traditionally promoted players in that manner. In order to find out if that’s still the case, the Boston radio show “Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria” on WEEI asked Red Sox manager Alex Cora if Casas could play in the MLB this year.
“It’s possible. We’ve seen it before,” Cora answered. “We’ve seen guys who have made the jump and been successful and we’ve seen guys who made the jump and they struggled, so it all depends who you are as a hitter.” Cora was then asked if Casas was being considered as an option to come up at some point. He replied, “We’ve seen what he’s done, and obviously, it’s a different tournament. Nothing against the other teams that they’re facing, but I think the quality of pitching is not the same as here, but he’s progressing, and he’s done an amazing job since spring training all the way until last night to keep getting better as a hitter. This guy is part of the future, like we always said, but as of now, we haven’t talked about it.”
So, it’s clear that Casas will have to wait his turn to get called up to the major league club. Even though he’s been disappointed by not getting the gold medal and he won’t be receiving a promotion to the MLB anytime soon, Casas has had one win recently- his manager learned how to spell his name! According to Reuters, Mike Scioscia, manager of the American baseball team, had misspelled Casas’ first name (he wrote Tristan, not Triston) on the lineup card for each of the first five games, but the mistake was pointed out to him so he could fix it before the last game. Scioscia’s response:
“I spelled his name wrong? C-a-s-a-s?”
“The stats speak for themselves,” Casas said in the same interview. “He was one of the best hitters (the past decade) and that’s when I was growing up watching baseball. And being a left-handed first baseman, Joey Votto is not a bad guy to emulate.”
Casas, a 21-year old prospect in the Boston Red Sox organization, hit third or fourth in every game for the USA in the Olympic tournament on a team that ended up losing to Japan in the gold medal game. Casas reached base eight times in 23 appearances (.308 OBP), but three of his five hits left the ballpark. His three home runs comprised almost half of Team USA’s total of seven, and he was tied with former MLB journeyman Danny Valencia of Israel and Korea’s Kim Hyunsoo for the most in the tournament.
Despite his individual success, Casas was not pleased with the team’s final result. He told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, "That silver medal isn't something that's going to be hanging up in my house, I'll tell you that. I'm not embarrassed, but it's not what I came here to do. I came here to win a gold medal." But, his overall takeaway was positive. “Getting to play in the Olympics is such a [rare] feat for a baseball player. I definitely don’t take this lightly and this is an experience of a lifetime I’ll never forget. Just the whole experience, getting to live in the village, getting to see all the other athletes and playing such high-level baseball, such big-time games, it did a lot for me.”
When he’s not playing in the Olympics, Casas currently plays in Portland for the Sea Dogs, the Red Sox Double-A affiliate. This season, he’s hitting .271 with six home runs in 49 games (he missed time for the Olympics). The 2018 first-round draft pick is ranked highly among prospect evaluators- 28th by MLB.com, 22nd by Fangraphs, and 47th by Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The three publications also agree that Casas is the #2 prospect at first base, behind the Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson.
Therefore, Red Sox fans who watched the Olympics may be hopeful to see Casas at Fenway Park with the major league club this year. There have been some prospects who have made the jump from Double-A to the Majors (skipping Triple-A) before, including former Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello (with Detroit) and Padres infielder Manny Machado, but the Red Sox have not traditionally promoted players in that manner. In order to find out if that’s still the case, the Boston radio show “Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria” on WEEI asked Red Sox manager Alex Cora if Casas could play in the MLB this year.
“It’s possible. We’ve seen it before,” Cora answered. “We’ve seen guys who have made the jump and been successful and we’ve seen guys who made the jump and they struggled, so it all depends who you are as a hitter.” Cora was then asked if Casas was being considered as an option to come up at some point. He replied, “We’ve seen what he’s done, and obviously, it’s a different tournament. Nothing against the other teams that they’re facing, but I think the quality of pitching is not the same as here, but he’s progressing, and he’s done an amazing job since spring training all the way until last night to keep getting better as a hitter. This guy is part of the future, like we always said, but as of now, we haven’t talked about it.”
So, it’s clear that Casas will have to wait his turn to get called up to the major league club. Even though he’s been disappointed by not getting the gold medal and he won’t be receiving a promotion to the MLB anytime soon, Casas has had one win recently- his manager learned how to spell his name! According to Reuters, Mike Scioscia, manager of the American baseball team, had misspelled Casas’ first name (he wrote Tristan, not Triston) on the lineup card for each of the first five games, but the mistake was pointed out to him so he could fix it before the last game. Scioscia’s response:
“I spelled his name wrong? C-a-s-a-s?”
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