Article: Boston Red Sox 2025 Position Analysis: First Base

[Alex Mayes]

The Red Sox have, potentially, one of the best offensive first basemen in the league, but the depth behind him is sorely lacking.

Triston Casas is primed for a breakout year in 2025 if he can stay healthy. He was robbed of that opportunity last year by the rib cartilage injury that sidelined him for the bulk of the season. The other effect of that injury was to showcase just how thin the Red Sox are at the first base position. Dom Smith filled in as best he could and Romy Gonzalez rotated in from time to time, but the lack of Casas's bat opened up a giant hole in both the infield defense and the starting lineup. Let’s take a look at the state of the position as we head into the 2025 season.

Red Sox First Basemen at a Glance

Starter: Triston Casas
Backup: Romy Gonzalez
Depth: Blake Sabol, Abraham Toro (NRI)
Prospects: Alex Binelas, Blaze Jordan, Nathan Hickey
Red Sox 1B fWAR Ranking Last Year: 23 out of 30

The Good
Triston Casas being healthy and having the chance to play an entire season is a really big "good" for the Red Sox. He has 40-homer potential and should be a force in the middle of the lineup. He’s not the best defensive first baseman, but he’s not necessarily a liability either. In limited action last season, Casas slashed .241/.337/.462 with 13 home runs for a 119 wRC+. While that's not quite where you’d hope it would be, Casas gives you the standard power hitter outcomes, but he has a solid command of the strike zone so he walks more than the average hitter. In 2023, he ran a .367 on-base percenrage,  good for sixth in the AL, whils his .857 ranked fifth. When Casas is healthy, he’s an on-base machine. A healthy Triston Casas should help propel the Red Sox to a playoff spot this season.

The Bad
The depth at first base is nonexistent again. Romy Gonzalez is a fine utility infielder, and he can play for brief spells at first, but if something were to happen to Casas you wouldn’t feel comfortable running him out to first every game. Outside of Gonzalez, Abraham Toro could play first a bit should he stick around past spring training. Blake Sabol was brought in as a catcher, but that skillset could transition to first if absolutely necessary. If we’re ever talking about Binelas or Jordan at first this season, things have gone horribly wrong. That’s not necessarily a knock on either of them; both could be major league contributors one day, but they don’t appear to be close to ready for the majors.

The Bottom Line
First base is about as top-heavy as you can get. After Casas there is one major league-ready player to step into his role and it’s not someone that you feel overly confident about for a long stretch. Should the injury bug bite Casas or Gonzalez during the season, the Red Sox may be forced to overextend for a trade or an unsigned free agent like Anthony Rizzo. Then again, Rafael Devers might just be in need of a defensive position.

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[moonslav59]

Casas needs a 650 PA season. Period.

I still think, at some point, Devers should grab a 1Bman's mitt, practice 1B, some, and see how it goes, and how he likes it.

(Wong and Ref might be viewed as emergency depth at 1B, too.)

[mvp 78]

That's a pretty high pacing for Casas. If he played a full 162 game season in '23, he would have only reached 616 PA's. Last year, his PA's prorate to 625 over 162.

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

That's a pretty high pacing for Casas. If he played a full 162 game season in '23, he would have only reached 616 PA's. Last year, his PA's prorate to 625 over 162.

He did not start in 11 of those games, and some were late inning entries.

He also did not finish 11 games he started.

If he bats 3rd for 160 games, he'll easily reach 650.

Last year, our 3 slot had 727 PAs.

I don't see it as high pacing. It might be wishful thinking on his health.

[Malcolm White]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He did not start in 11 of those games, and some were late inning entries.

He also did not finish 11 games he started.

If he bats 3rd for 160 games, he'll easily reach 650.

Last year, our 3 slot had 727 PAs.

I don't see it as high pacing. It might be wishful thinking on his health.

Or wishful thinking on his usage. I'm hopeful they manage games played much better than last year, when Duran, Rafaela, Wong and others were gassed late in the season.  I hope Cora has a plan for getting Casas a day off his feet every 7-10 days.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Malcolm White said:

Or wishful thinking on his usage. I'm hopeful they manage games played much better than last year, when Duran, Rafaela, Wong and others were gassed late in the season.  I hope Cora has a plan for getting Casas a day off his feet every 7-10 days.

He's so bad on D, that DH'ing him 10-15 games a year could be all the "rest" he needs. The problem is, who plays 1B, when he does not?

I had hoped it might be Devers- someday, but that has not seemed to be an idea anyone in the Sox organization holds as even an option. That leaves Romy, Wong or longshot Refsnyder. That's a major step down and assumes Devers moves from DH to 3B on those days, if not 1B.

Cora did play Duran 160 games for 735 PAs in 2024.