Red Sox’ Triston Casas launches Foundation
When Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury on May he didn t have to wonder what he would do with all the free time His passion project the Triston Casas Foundation officially launches on June coinciding with Red Sox Disability Pride Day at Fenway Park I ve been thinking about starting something for years now Casas communicated the Herald I yearned to debut and make it to the major leagues and really have certain following behind my name before I started something Things career-wise haven t exactly gone as I hoped they would in terms of performance but with whatever platform it is that I ve created for myself I want to help and make a difference The mission of Casas eponymous nonprofit organization is to break walls foster authentic relationships and empower people with intellectual developmental and physical disabilities to thrive in every part of life They re raising funds for the Special Olympics with a focus on his home region of South Florida and partnering with Best Buddies I feel I want to channel my focus to something positive he mentioned I ve been looking forward to collaborating and putting together awesome events Philanthropy is a cornerstone of the Red Sox and they expect players at all levels of the organization to give back Doing so helped Casas figure out the causes he sought to champion with his own foundation He d worked with Best Buddies and the Special Olympics in high school and unveiled the experiences not only eye-opening but uplifting There s a lot of different things that I had in mind that I felt passionately about and it was tough making a decision he noted adding that the foundation might take on additional causes in the future Above all Casas is deeply committed to doing personal individual work This season the foundation has the Best Buddies Ballpark Tour Inclusion in Action a one-of-a-kind gameday experience for two pairs of Best Buddies participants I think when you help individual people you get to see who they are and they get to see who you are Casas disclosed I m just trying to make a difference in any way that I can and that was really the question that I sought when I was speaking with the ownership of Best Buddies and Special Olympics What do you guys need or is there anything independently away from you that s missing he revealed And the consensus I got was really everything the more events the more days that we can put together for not just kids but really people of all ages The tour now spans games primarily at Fenway Park with Yankee Stadium and Tampa Bay as well Casas originally planned on a wider range of ballparks to reach as multiple communities as doable but his injury forced the foundation to pivot He s considering asking Red Sox teammates and friends on teams around the league if they d be interested in hosting on his behalf as he s still on crutches for another month and unable to advance This is the longest recovery Casas has ever undertaken but he s confident that he s doing everything he can to heal physically and mentally I remember laying on the floor after I got hurt just looking up and thinking that this wasn t how it was supposed to go he announced But as soon as it happened I promised myself that I wouldn t feel sorry for myself that I wouldn t have a bad attitude about this and just that I d make the bulk of every day regardless of what I could do I made that promise to myself I m attacking my therapy everyday he continued I m making great progress my pain is very tolerable now making big strides every day I ve had a lot of promotion from my teammates and the rehab group that I ve been at the field with including Alex Bregman Patrick Sandoval and Richard Fitts and Romy Gonzalez and Masa Yoshida We ve all leaned on each other I ve been getting a lot of love and it makes it easy to wake up every day with the mindset that I m going to dominate this therapy and come back to playing as soon as workable and with the goal being Opening Day next year Working on the foundation building this carriage for helping others has already helped Casas immensely too I think going forward it s going to be something that I find purpose in something that I can really get behind and feel good about he continued because I do whatever it is I do on the field and that s great and it s fun but sometimes I lose sight of the bigger picture I think an opportunity like this is going to provide a lot of perspective for myself away from the field I think it s easy to get wrapped up in the results of everything and how consumed I am with my career and how I want everything to go but I think taking a step away from it sometimes is going to be good for not just my mental wellness but really my whole family And hopefully everybody that supports me is going to be buying in too After missing most of of last season and seeing this year s campaign end after just over a month Casas is more aware than ever that no athlete no matter how healthy or talented gets to play the battle they love forever The foundation is something he hopes lasts much longer I get a lot of gratification from my career and hitting a home run is great and making people happy by signing autographs and winning games it s all cool but that s going to end one day and maybe this is something that goes on Casas continued I think helping people out is the main goal of my purpose I think ultimately this is something that I m going to feel best about when my career is over
