Red Sox slugger Casas loathes injury rehab: 'Living my worst nightmare'

Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas is trying to stay positive while staring down a long recovery from a torn patellar tendon.

"I'm living my worst nightmare right now to go through a double-digit recovery that's months long," Casas said, according to Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press.

"But going through it now, I feel like I'm going to be better as a consequence of it. It's just part of the game. It's part of running hard down the line. Part of just playing the game how you feel like it should be. I wouldn't have changed anything about it. It's just a move that I've done a thousand times. ... It's just onward from here, I guess."

Casas suffered the season-ending injury on May 2 in a game against the Minnesota Twins after an awkward fall running to first base. He left the field on a stretcher and underwent surgery two days later.

It's the second consecutive year the 25-year-old has suffered a serious injury, as a rib fracture limited him to 63 games in 2024.

"As of right now, our goal is Opening Day next year," Casas added regarding his return. "So, I'm going to take it slow. Going to spend the winter in Fort Myers rehabbing and until then just try to stay in a positive mindset. I know there's a lot of healing that's done outside of the training table. So I think I'm trying to take it one day at a time, be positive, and maintain a good headspace is going to be important as well."

Casas struggled at the plate before getting hurt, slashing .182/.277/.303 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He went deep 24 times with a .856 OPS (129 OPS+) in 132 games in 2023.

Boston has deployed a combination of Abraham Toro and Romy Gonzalez at first base since Casas went down.