Why Triston Casas Thinks Big Three Red Sox Prospects Aren’t Ready Yet For MLB
Triston Casas on Tuesday sure wasn’t afraid to share his opinion on a couple of important Boston Red Sox matters.
The slugging first baseman had extensive thoughts about keeping Rafael Devers at third base for this upcoming season and into the future while having newcomer Alex Bregman take up second.
Then, Casas laid out how he would handle Boston’s Big Three prospects in Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell. The trio is pushing to make the Opening Day roster, but if it was up to Casas, he wouldn’t have any of them start the season in the big leagues.
“No,” Casas told reporters when asked directly if the Big Three should be on the Opening Day roster, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “I think we’ve got some grown men up there right now that need to iron some things out. We need to show up and see what that first little taste of us altogether looks like. I think their time is going to come. And it could be earlier rather than later. But I think for right now the roster is beautiful. It’s organized great. And it’s structured really well.”
Casas certainly believes in the veterans on the team and didn’t diminish the talents of Anthony, Mayer and Campbell. There isn’t really an open spot for Anthony at the moment with a logjam in the Red Sox outfield and Mayer is in a similar predicament with Trevor Story holding down shortstop.
Campbell, who is ranked as the fourth-best prospect in the sport by Baseball America, had the best chance of the three to break camp with the Red Sox. It looked like he would battle Vaughn Grissom in spring training for the starting second baseman job, but that’s up in the air now if Bregman moves to the middle infield.
The Big Three beginning the season with Triple-A Worcester surely isn’t a bad thing. It will take some pressure off them and allow them more time to develop.
Casas knows what it’s like to be called upon by the Red Sox as a prospect and he has plenty of confidence in Anthony, Mayer and Campbell whenever that time comes.
“I look back on that time in ’22 and ’23 and I just had so many worries all the time,” Casas said. “Things (were) going to work out for themselves if I played my game. I think they are way ahead of the curve. They’ve heard it from all of us.”