Raptors' Casey posts another four-hit game

Donovan Casey, 23 games into his professional career, has shown an ability to pile hit atop hit atop hit -- even if he doesn't always realize it in the moment.
"I never count my hits during the game because I'm trying to help the team win, trying to do anything that helps put runs on the scoreboard," the Dodgers' 20th-round pick in this year's Draft said. "Once you have one, you want the next one. ... A lot of it is luck, just finding holes. I try to battle with two strikes and put a good swing on it early on in the count."
Casey went 4-for-6 with four RBIs on Wednesday night, helping Rookie-level Ogden outslug Idaho Falls, 13-8, at Melaleuca Field.

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As impressive a night as Casey had, he merely tied career highs in hits and RBIs. He was 4-for-4 with four runs scored on Friday and also plated four runs on a four-hit night in the Rookie-level Arizona League on July 20. After missing a couple games over the weekend, he totaled four hits -- including his sixth Pioneer League homer -- on Monday and Tuesday.
"Pretty much, I've been working with the [Raptors] coaches on helping my bat path, letting me use my quick hands that I have," the 21-year-old center fielder said. "That's been giving me a lot of confidence, so I focus on putting a good swing on the ball every time I go up to hit. It's been helping me a lot, the self-confidence.
"[In some at-bats last week], I just wasn't really squaring baseballs up the way that I should. Today, I had the confidence to just go out and play and have fun. I was more relaxed, and because of that I'm able to play better -- a lot better, actually. The more pressure I put on myself, the worse I do."

The right-handed-hitting leadoff man notched his first hit of the night in the fourth inning, digging out an infield single off Chukars starter Dillon Drabble.
"It was a nice high and away pitch, and somehow I decided to swing in a way that hooked it into the ground, right in front of home plate, and it [ended up] a nice swinging bunt," Casey said. "I'll take it." 
An inning later, the Boston College product drilled a two-out, two-run single off Drabble and took second on the throw home.
"After that hit, I put a couple more runs on scoreboard and that lightened me up," he said. "I've been struggling to barrel the baseball the last couple games, and that gave me the confidence to go out there and be relaxed, have some fun. It gave me the confidence to go into the next at-bat and to the same thing."

Casey added an opposite-field knock in the seventh and poked another single through the right side for two more RBIs in the ninth, contributing to a three-run outburst for Ogden.
"Instead of two runs, that made it a four-run and then a five-run ballgame," he said. "That allows the defense to be laid back and that allows the pitcher to go out and pound the zone and not worry about if a runner gets on base."
In the at-bats that plated runs, the New Jersey native was first-pitch swinging.
"With runners on base, I want to see the ball up, and anything over the plate I want to put a good swing on it," he said. "That's usually the best pitch you're going to see and it's the best chance to score some runs. The ball happened to find some holes and it led to some runs. it felt good. I like to be aggressive on the first pitch."
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Mitchell Hansen -- a 2015 second-round pick -- tripled, hit his second homer in three games and drove in three runs for the Raptors.
Left-hander Justin Hoyt, drafted two rounds after Casey, struck out all five batters he faced to record his first professional save.
Matt Morales collected three hits, including an RBI triple, and Robby Rinn slugged a two-run homer for Idaho Falls.