Red Sox Notes: Casas, Hendriks, Mata

In an odd moment of miscommunication earlier this month, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas told reporters earlier this month that he had begun to take dry swings while rehabbing torn cartilage in his midsection. That was exciting news regarding the 24-year-old’s progress, but MassLive’s Sean McAdam noted earlier this week that Casas’s previous comments do not appear to have been entirely accurate.

“Oh, no, just in my mind,” Casas said (as relayed by McAdam) when asked to elaborate on his previous comments about taking swings. “Without a bat, just in my head. I’ve taken thousands of at-bats like that. I feel great.”

Despite Casas’s previously reported step towards swinging a bat apparently having been entirely imaginary, McAdam noted that the slugger had truly resumed swinging on Wednesday, when he swung a bat 20 times after an MRI the previous day revealed that his ribcage had healed properly. As noted by MassLive’s Christopher Smith earlier today, manager Alex Cora told reporters that Casas has subsequently ramped up to 30 swings and is feeling some “general soreness” as he kicks back into gear and prepares for his return to the majors. Cora went on to suggest that the soreness may not impact Casas’s timeline much, adding that he might resume swinging as soon as tomorrow and could continue to do some baseball activity today. Despite the soreness not being much of an issue, however, Cora suggested that it’s unlikely that the first baseman will return to action in the majors before the All Star break.

Thats not necessarily shocking, given the fact that Casas hasn’t seen game action since late April and will surely need a rehab assignment to get back up to speed. While that post-All Star break target is a far cry from the July 2nd date Casas floated for his return earlier this month, its not necessarily surprising that he would be about two weeks behind that schedule given the fact that he didn’t start swinging a bat until about two weeks after he first indicated he was resuming doing so.

Regardless of the unusual situation, Casas’s return is sure to provide a shot in the arm for a Red Sox club that has enjoyed a 10-4 record over their last 14 games. Despite that strong recent performance vaulting them firmly into the AL Wild Card mix alongside teams like the Royals and Twins, Boston’s offense has posted a relatively pedestrian wRC+ of just 102 since Casas went down with injury, and Dominic Smith has slashed a paltry .209/.308/.317 (78 wRC+) in 47 games filling in for Casas at first base. That’s a far cry from the production the young slugger offered when healthy in the first month of the season, as Casas will boast a .244/.344/.513 slash line on the season when he returns to the lineup, although that came in a sample size of just 90 trips to the plate.

Casas isn’t the only potentially impactful piece who’s on the road to recovery from injury. Veteran closer Liam Hendriks, who the Red Sox signed to a two-year, $10MM guarantee over the winter, underwent Tommy John surgery back in August of last year when he was still a member of the White Sox but has long been targeting a return to the big league mound around or shortly after this year’s trade deadline, which has been set for July 30. Hendriks has been making solid progress in that pursuit, as Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reported that after throwing a 15-pitch bullpen session earlier this week he followed it up with a 20-pitch bullpen yesterday. McCaffrey added that Hendriks said that he was “feeling good” following yesterday’s and that the plan is for him to move up from two bullpen sessions to three next week before determining next steps beyond that.

Seeing as Hendriks has already resumed throwing, it seems likely that he would be on pace to return sometime in August as previously expected. While the 35-year-old was limited to just five innings of work last year between his aforementioned Tommy John surgery and a battle with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that caused him to miss the first half of the season, the veteran hurler has long been regarded as one of the league’s top bullpen arms. From 2019 to 2022, Hendriks pitched to a sensational 2.26 ERA (188 ERA+) and 2.13 FIP while striking out an eye-popping 38.8% of batters faced in a combined 239 innings of work. Adding a player with that sort of resume to a bullpen that’s already employs Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin in the late innings could make for a lethal three-headed monster at the back of the Red Sox bullpen down the stretch if Hendriks is able to stay on track and return healthy.

Joining Hendriks in working his way back from a largely lost 2023 season is right-hander Bryan Mata, who pitched just 27 innings last year due to a strained teres major muscle. The right-hander and former top prospect for the Red Sox has yet to make his big league debut, but is a particularly interesting case given the fact that he is out of options and will need to either be added to the club’s active roster or subjected to waivers once healthy enough to return to action. It’s long been considered unlikely that Mata would clear waivers without being claimed by another club, meaning that 30 days after Mata begins a rehab assignment, the Red Sox will need to make a decision regarding his future in the organization.

As noted by Smith earlier this afternoon, Mata began a rehab assignment for the club earlier this month and reached the Triple-A level on Thursday. The right-hander impressed in 2 2/3 innings of work as his fastball reached 97.8 mph, though he surrendered two runs on two hits and a walk during the appearance. He’ll follow that performance up with another rehab start with Worcester this coming Tuesday. That pattern figures to continue for the remainder of his rehab assignment, as Cora told reporters (including Smith) that the club plans to keep Mata on a starter’s schedule but limit him two or three innings per appearance.

While Mata hasn’t enjoyed much success amid injury-marred campaigns in 2023 and 2024, it’s not hard to see why the Red Sox would want to keep the righty in the fold. After all, it was just two seasons ago when the youngster dazzled with 83 innings of work spread across four levels of the minors that saw him post a 2.49 ERA while striking out 30.3% of batters faced. If he can post anything close to those numbers in the majors, even in a bullpen role, he would surely be a valuable asset to the Red Sox as they attempt to chase their first playoff appearance since 2021.