Triston Casas Is Looking To Create Power From a Smaller Space

Triston Casas is making some changes with his left-handed stroke, and he’s doing so with the Green Monster in mind. The Boston Red Sox slugger has historically used the entire field — his pull-center-oppo numbers last season were 38.5%, 38.5%, and 23.0%, respectively — but he wants to take even better advantage of his home park. Bashing with arms bent will be part of that process… at least for now. Compared to his many of his contemporaries, Casas can be a bit of chameleon when it comes to fine-tuning his swing.

Always engaging when discussing his craft — last summer’s Triston Casas Talks Hitting Training and August 2023’s Triston Casas Embraces the Science of Hitting are good examples — the 25-year-old first baseman discussed his current efforts at Red Sox camp earlier this week.

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David Laurila: You’re making some adjustments at the plate. What are they?

Triston Casas: “It’s more an approach of keeping my swing inside my frame. I want to have the angles of my body — my hips and my shoulders — in alignment, and try to make sure that I’m making contact inside my body. I want to feel like I’m hitting with my arms bent at a certain point.

“As a hitter, you need that triple extension. Your wrists, your front leg, and your back hip are all perfect, at the right time, as you’re making contact. That’s where you get the power.”

Laurila: Can you elaborate on hitting with your arms bent?

Casas: “So, I want to feel like my arms are bent hitting the ball. Obviously, it’s not going to happen that way, but yeah, just keeping things simple and staying inside my frame. I feel like I can still drive the ball without getting extended. That’s going to be a big focal point this year, trying to wear out that wall, that Monster. And if I do happen to get extension and drive the ball in the air to the pull side, that will be great too. But I want to try to use the whole field and hit the ball to the opposite field a lot.”

Laurila: It sounds like “arms bent” is more than just a mental cue. There is a physical component, as well.

Casas: “It’s definitely physical. It’s a mental-physical, yeah. I’m thinking it, but I want it to be in my body. I want it to be with my arms, and with my legs as well.”

Laurila: You’re basically tightening up your swing…

Casas: “Yes. I’m trying to create power from a smaller space. I feel like if I get too spread out, or I over-stride, it doesn’t allow me to throw my hips as efficiently. You can rotate a lot further from a smaller space. When your legs are spread out, or if you’re in a complete split, it’s hard to even rotate your hips at all. So, creating power from a smaller space is going to help me throw my hips a lot better. That, combined with the thought of keeping my arms close to my body, staying inside my frame, and trying to hit the ball to that left-center gap… I feel that’s going to be a recipe for success.

“When I get into my leg kick, I’ll try to sit in my glute a little bit more, using that back leg as a real anchor to the upper body [and] try to be soft on my front side when I do come down. When my leg comes up, the energy and the weight is going to go into that back leg. It’s going to stack. All of my weight is going to be on my back leg, and then I’ll slightly shift forward. Once that front leg lands, the hips have to be able to work really fast. That’s what I’ve been working on.”

Laurila: We can expect to see less pull side from you this season?

Casas: “I’m going to try to use the whole field. I can set my sights in different directions depending on who I’m facing, or the conditions per se, or how I’m feeling comfort-wise. It could be what the situation is. There are times I’ll use the opposite field a little more, but then there are also going to be times where I feel like I can ambush a guy. It could be on a specific pitch. I might get a hunch in the middle of an at-bat.

“I don’t want to take away from my strength, which is hitting the ball hard in all directions. That’s to the pull side as well. But if I keep my arms inside my body, keep them tight, the opposite field is going to play well.”

Laurila: What are you seeing in terms of exit velocities with that adjustment?

Casas: “I’m not focused on exit velos right now, actually. I’m just worried about backspinning the ball with the right [ball] flight. If you spin the ball the right way at 103-104 mph it’s going to go out, regardless of the part of the park. Even to center field. Obviously, at Fenway you have that 420 out there, but you also have that wall in left that’s only 310 feet away. I started to hit better when I realized that I didn’t have to hit it over the wall, I just had to hit it off the wall. That’s going to generate runs for our team. I can hit it 310 feet in my sleep.”

Laurila: I assume that letting the ball travel more will be part of your left-center field approach?

Casas: “Definitely. I think that’s the whole point of letting the ball travel, being able to impact it toward the opposite field. In general, the goal of a hitter is being able to make a decision as late as possible and still having the strength to get away with it. When you’re making decisions late you’re able to stay off pitches out of the zone, and then with the hanging stuff in the zone, you can still be on time. That’s where having good bat speed plays a part. That’s something I have, so I’m going to keep using it to my advantage.”

Laurila: Is it something you’ve always had, or have you worked to improve it?

Casas: “You know, it’s funny; I’ve never worked on that before. I try to swing the bat under control — I like the [term] under control, but I’ve never trained bat speed. The minor league program here is a lot of Driveline-introduced type of work with overload and underload bats. I was never a part of that wave. They just preached to me to be myself, to do whatever I felt was going to make me best. Nobody tried to cookie cut me, or put me in a category here in the organization. They just wanted me to be whatever I wanted to, which was exactly what I needed at the time.”

Laurila: What about the current changes? Were they driven by conversations with people in the organization?

Casas: “No. I can’t pinpoint a concern they’ve had with my swing. I mean, they obviously want me to cut back on my strikeouts and hit the ball harder more consistently. But that’s for every hitter. They haven’t ever suggested anything crazy or wanted me to ever make a drastic change. I think they trust that I know how to get the most out of myself and my swing.

“These are just changes that… I mean, it’s in pursuit of the perfect swing, right? My swing has gone in phases, and this phase probably isn’t the ultimate one that I’m looking for, either. It’s just one that I’m going through at the moment. The last time we talked, I was working on something else.

“This is just where I’m at right now. It could get exposed quickly in these games, so I could be making an adjustment within the next two or three weeks. I don’t know how long I’m going ride this out. If I see that something isn’t working as best as I think it can, I’ll scratch it. I’ll go back to the drawing board and do it all over again.”

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