The Boston Red Sox are expected to activate first baseman Triston Casas for Friday’s matchup with the Baltimore Orioles. Chris Cotillo from MassLive information.
Casas, 24, has been on the injured list since April 21 due to torn cartilage in right rib cageAt the time, he was batting .244 with an .857 OPS, six home runs and 10 RBIs in 90 plate appearances.
While Casas was out, Dominic Smith got the bulk of the playing time at first base. He hit .237 with a .707 OPS, six homers, 20 doubles and 34 RBIs. Smith was designated for assignment to clear a spot for Casas on Boston’s roster.
The Red Sox are hoping Casas can make an immediate impact with his power. He’ll be the third hitter in the lineup on Friday.
Last season, Casas hit .263 with an .856 OPS, 21 doubles, 24 homers and 65 RBIs in 502 plate appearances. He finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
Casas finished an 11-game rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester on Thursday. In 47 plate appearances, he hit .300 with a .954 OPS, seven doubles, one home run and seven RBIs.
He told Alex Speier of the Boston Globe He said he hoped to be pain-free when he returned to the major league roster. However, he still feels pain when he makes contact with the ball, but is able to recover between at-bats. The problem is when he hits foul balls and the pain persists.
“The pain doesn’t appear before contact, fortunately. It only appears at the moment of contact,” Casas said. “The difficult thing is to control the pain between pitches, foul balls and returning to the batting area.”
The Red Sox enter Friday’s game in third place in the AL East with a 63-57 record, having lost six of their last eight games. Boston is 2 1/2 games out of the final AL wild-card playoff spot.