3 Red Sox players most likely to have a breakout season in 2023

2) Why Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas will have a breakout season

If you’re waiting for Bobby Dalbec to start hitting, turn your attention to Triston Casas instead. The Red Sox have cleared the way for him to play as much as possible. The 23-year-old received only 95 plate appearances with the team last season. This is the year where he sees much more and firmly implants himself as an everyday player in the club’s lineup.

Casas didn’t hit well in the big leagues for Boston in 2022. A .197/.358/.408 slash line shows off a bit of his patience but highlights something many rookies struggle with: getting hits.

Casas has spent his entire professional career in the minors as a good OBP guy. The man can draw walks and even in his struggles last season didn’t strike out a whole lot. He’ll need to do much more than draw walks to have a breakout year. We should have faith he will.

How good of a year can we expect from him? He probably won’t contend too seriously for the American League Rookie of the year, but he can become a reliable top-of-the-order bat for the Red Sox. As part of the new core the Red Sox are building, a successful year from Casas is a ray of sunshine for a team in need of good news.