Triston Casas describes his ‘swinging’ rehabilitation, which involves no swinging at all

An infamous quote about baseball commonly attributed to Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra goes like this: “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.” Triston Casas’ injury recovery has become a very direct embodiment of that confusing quote.

The Boston Red Sox first baseman has not played a game since April 20 due to a broken rib. But don’t worry, he’ll take a beating to get ready for the board again. At least sort of.

Casas recently told reporters that he was taking “dry swings,” but then had an interesting back-and-forth with reporters about what those swings actually entailed. Apparently the swings involved no movement. Instead, they were just meditated versions of swings in his head, visualizations of what it will be like to bat again.

According to Mac Cerullo, the hilarious exchange went as follows:

Julian McWilliams: You’ve done dry swings before, right?
Triston Casas: Yes, without a bat.
Julian: Without a bat?
Triston: Yes. I have been rocking for 10 weeks.
Jen: So what does that mean? Swinging with just your hands?
Triston: Oh no, just in my mind. Without a bat, just in my head. I’ve had thousands of at-bats in this time, so I feel great, I feel ready.
Jen: So you would just stand, or…
Triston: Or sit, or lie down. Yes.
MacCerullo: Does the process involve turning or do you just stand still?
Triston: Oh no, no turning. Yeah, no, I couldn’t. But I could wave.

While it may sound funny, Casas has always been an above-average hitter, hitting .244/.513/.857 this year before his injury. Maybe we shouldn’t question his methods?

Others in the league have also had strong results with fewer swings. Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, who hit his 30th home run of the season against the Mets on Wednesday night, admitted to cutting back on batting practice to keep himself healthier this year as he moves to center field full-time.