Red Sox Notebook: Top prospect Triston Casas ‘carrying this team’ at the Summer Olympics

The way Triston Casas is swinging the bat for Team USA at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the Red Sox have to wonder if they could use this guy on the big league team.

While the Sox continue to rank dead last in offensive production from first base, Casas slugged his third homer in four games for Team USA, who need one more win to qualify for the gold medal game.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he’s getting bombarded with text messages from his friends asking if the Sox could call up Casas after the Olympics.

“I’m just really proud of what he’s doing,” Cora said Wednesday. “He’s done an amazing job. He’s carrying this team offensively. You don’t have too many chances to represent your country after you turn professional. The fact the organization gave all these players the green light to go over there to Tokyo in the middle of a pandemic, knowing everything that’s going on, to go out there and get better and play pressure baseball, I think it’s great.”

Videos of Casas blasting homers in Japan have been flooding the internet over the last few days, especially given Casas’ emotional explosion after each homer he hits. The 6-foot-4, 252-pound first baseman is a mild-mannered player off the field, but has been pumping his fists and screaming around the bases during the Olympics.

“We’ve been paying attention,” Cora said. “With Triston, we know the type of player he is. It seems like he’s enjoying the experience. He’s been very emotional, which we love. We’ve been in touch with (minor league coach Darren Fenster) throughout the tournament, and they’re very pleased not only with what he’s doing on the field, but the way he’s doing stuff off the field, the way he has connected with veteran players. And this is part of player development. The fact he can go into a high-pressure situation and perform at this level is amazing.”

Casas keeps moving up the top prospect rankings and is currently considered the best prospect in the Red Sox’ farm system. He’s ranked No. 22 overall by Baseball America.

He’s just 21 years old and his .777 OPS in Double-A this year isn’t eye-opening enough to earn him a promotion straight to the big leagues, but given how well  he’s played in the Olympics, and how poorly the Sox’ first basemen have played while they wait to see if Kyle Schwarber can handle the position, it’s fair to wonder if the Sox should call Casas up to the big leagues after the Olympics are over.

“No,” Cora said when asked if Casas was on the big league radar. “We’ll talk about it, but obviously there’s a lot of development he has to go through. We need to be realistic. Obviously, the spotlight’s on him right now and what he’s doing for Team USA. Everybody’s noticing. The games are on TV. The announcers are talking about him, what kind of player he is. That’s why everybody is talking about him. We’re very proud of him.”

Schwarber almost ready

Schwarber might not need many rehab games before he joins the Red Sox.

Coming back from a serious hamstring injury, Schwarber was running the bases and taking groundballs before Wednesday’s game and could be back to the big leagues soon.

“I don’t know how many days (he’ll need to be in the minors) if he goes on a rehab assignment,” Cora said. “If it’s up to him, he’d be in the lineup tonight. He doesn’t feel like he needs too many at-bats. But obviously we have to be realistic, too. He hasn’t played in a while.”

Bogaerts not hurt

Xander Bogaerts is in an unusual slump.

He hurt his wrist in the first series after the All-Star break and has just one extra-base hit with a .195 average and 11 strikeouts in 41 at-bats since.

“I don’t think it’s the wrist,” Cora said. “Right now he’s in one of those stretches that he’s expanding. He’s made some subtle adjustments. Yesterday he felt good as far as seeing the ball. Obviously he didn’t see the results. He fouled a few balls to left field with authority. After the game he was like, ‘you know what, I’m getting there.’ Hopefully the ‘getting there’ is tonight.”

Stuck in the mud

The Sox’ five-game losing streak entering Wednesday was their longest of the season to date.

“One thing that we need to do a better job is offensively,” Cora said. “I’ve been saying all along since we went to Oakland (in early July), we haven’t been able to be who we are. We talk about plate discipline. There’s a lot of stuff that we look at, that I look at, that comes into play to where we’re at right now. Obviously we’ve won a lot of games, a lot of close games, but offensively, I think we’re stuck right now. We haven’t done a good job staying in the zone. When we swing in the zone, we’re not doing damage. With men in scoring position, we haven’t been great.”

Closer Matt Barnes tested negative for COVID-19 and was reinstated from the COVID-related injured list. Jonathan Arauz was optioned to Triple-A Worcester to make room.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3A9MQpF