Offensive Player of the Year (Triston Casas)
Triston Casas is 19. That’s something I’m going to have to restrain myself from saying too much because it seems impossible.
In his first full season in the Red Sox organization, he didn’t disappoint in the slightest. The left-handed hitter made the switch to first base (drafted as a third baseman) and absolutely raked.
Casas hit .254 with 25 doubles, five triples, and 19 home runs in 118 games for Full-A. He drove in 78 runs and scored 64 more, stealing three bases and walking 58 times.
Then Casas moved up to Advanced-A, playing two regular season games. He hit .429 (3-for-7) with one double, one home run, three RBI and two more runs scored as well.
All together, that equaled out to a .256/.350/.480 slash line in his first season.
Casas also got to play in the postseason for Advanced-A, going 5-for-19 (.263) with a double and an RBI.
One thing you’ll notice immediately about Casas is his size. An absolute unit at 6’4″, Casas has the frame to be a menace at the plate and a big target at first base. What this makes even more surprising though is his batting stance.
Casas chokes up pretty heavily on his bat. It makes the power all that much more impressive, and you have to love the fact that he’s doing what’s comfortable for him and clearly looking to make contact.
Something that shouldn’t go noticed is his defense. He’s not perfect at first base but he looked great in his first year at the position. Casas posted a .995 fielding percentage and was pretty smooth there.
He’ll most likely spend all of 2020 in the minors. Casas will likely start in Advanced-A but should get called up to Double-A at some point.
Due to the fact that he’ll probably spend the entire year in the minors, banking on Casas winning the OPOY again is a safe bet.
His MLB debut could easily come as early as next year, but 2021 is much more likely. The only way 2020 is happening is if Casas really shows out and Boston has issues at first base.