Top stars’ slow start to the 2025 season is becoming a real concern for the Red Sox. Over the first 12 games, the first baseman is batting just .174, with 8 hits in 46 at-bats. He’s drawn five walks but struck out 15 times, and the power the team hoped to see from him has yet to show up. He has only one home run and four RBIs, with a disappointing .240 on-base percentage and a .283 slugging percentage—good for just a .523 OPS. He’s also been benched multiple times against left-handed pitchers, including in Sunday’s game versus White Sox lefty Martin Pérez.
Before last matchup, manager Alex Cora moved him down to sixth in the batting order. He had been hitting cleanup, but his lack of production no longer justified the spot. Dropping him in the order is intended to help him find more favorable matchups and perhaps reset mentally.
“Triston put together some decent swings a couple nights ago, but I felt today’s lineup made the most sense,” Cora told MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
The issues extend beyond just the numbers. Casas looks off at the plate—he’s late on fastballs, struggling with off-speed pitches, and failing to make solid contact. Pitchers are exploiting him by starting with high heat, then finishing him off with breaking balls when they get ahead in the count. He’s also not able to rely on advanced metrics to make his case; his chase rate is up, and even when he’s getting pitches to hit, he hasn’t done much with them.
He’s particularly struggled against lefties, failing to record a single extra-base hit against them so far. That’s been a team-wide issue too—Boston has batted just .115 (9-for-78) with runners in scoring position during their seven losses.
Despite offseason trade rumors and his reluctance to sign a contract extension, the Red Sox aren’t ready to move on from Casas just yet. Still, they need more consistent production from first base, and Casas needs to start proving he can be a dependable big leaguer before pressure mounts even further.