Canada's Abraham Toro is headed back to the big leagues.
The Red Sox recalled the Longueuil, Que., utility man on Saturday while placing first baseman Triston Casas on the 10-day injured list with a left patellar tendon rupture.
Casas underwent successful surgery for the injury, the Red Sox said on Sunday.
Toro, 28, has spent parts of the past six seasons in MLB with the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland Athletics.
In 94 games last year with the A's, the utility man batted .240 with six home runs and 26 RBIs while appearing at first base, second base, third base, left field and designated hitter.
Toro batted .310 (31-for-100) with seven doubles, two triples and two home runs with triple-A Worcester this season.
The 25-year-old Casas ruptured his patellar tendon running to first on a slow roller up the line and fell awkwardly in Boston’s victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night. After laying on his back in pain — not moving the knee — he was carted off on a stretcher before being taken to a Boston hospital.
The team announced Sunday that he had surgery for a left patellar tendon repair at Massachusetts General Hospital. The surgery was performed by Dr. Eric Berkson.
“I talked to him last night,” Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said in a press conference on Saturday discussing the injury outside Boston’s clubhouse. “We exchanged text messages (today). We all care deeply about just his overall wellbeing.”
Manager Alex Cora said Casas worked hard during the off-season to play every day after missing a large amount of last year with torn cartilage in his rib cage.
“He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to,” Cora said of Casas’ struggles. “He was going to play and play a lot. Now we’ve got to focus on the rehab after the surgery and hopefully get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year.”
Casas batted just .182 with three homers and 11 RBIs, but Breslow said his loss will be felt, especially with the team’s lack of depth at the position.
“He certainly struggled through the first month of the season but that didn’t change what we believe his production was capable of being,” Breslow said. “It’s a big loss. In addition to what we think we were going to get on the offensive side, he was kind of like a stabilizing presence on the defensive side of the field — also a big personality and a big part of the clubhouse.”
During spring training, Casas talked about how his focus at the plate this season was being more relaxed.
“You really want it until you don't,” he said, explaining his thoughts while standing at his locker. “Then you can’t want it that much.”
Now, he’ll have to focus on his recovery plan for next season.
--with files from The Associated Press
