When Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury on May 2, 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 3, coinciding with Red Sox Disability Pride Day at Fenway Park. “I’ve been thinking about starting something for years now,” Casas told the Herald. “I wanted to debut and make it to the major leagues and really have some 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 barriers, 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 said. “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 wanted to champion with his own foundation. He’d worked with Best Buddies and the Special Olympics in high school, and found 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 said, 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 said. “I’m just trying to make a difference in any way that I can, and that was really the question that I asked 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 said. “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 currently spans 10 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 many communities as possible,” 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 travel. 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 said. “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 most 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 support 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 possible, and with the goal being Opening Day next year.” Working on the foundation, building this vehicle 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 health, but really my whole family. And hopefully, everybody that supports (me) is going to be buying in, too.” After missing most 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 game 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.”