Thursday, September 03

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BOSTON -- At 30 years old, and eight years after the Yankees made him a 27th-round pick in the Draft, Mickey Gasper was fighting just for the fringes of survival on 40-man rosters.

Long before Gasper’s epic power tear for the Red Sox, which included seven homers and a 1.686 OPS in a 13-game span from Aug. 17-Sept. 1, Gasper was having an icy winter.

Back on Jan. 14, the Twins, the team he had a .488 OPS in 45 games with last season while battling plantar fasciitis in both feet, designated him for assignment, effectively making him available to all other MLB teams.

The sting of the dismissal from the Twins dissipated when the Nationals claimed him off waivers six days later. But Gasper’s stint in Washington didn’t even last until the Super Bowl, let alone the start of Spring Training. Gasper was DFA’d nine days after he was claimed. Forgive Gasper if he was having a hard time beaming about the pitchers and catchers report date a couple of weeks later.

But then there was some good news. The piece of news that ultimately set up his recent surge of offense.

The Red Sox became the latest team to claim him off waivers, doing so on Feb. 4. There would be a Major League camp for Gasper to go to after all. It turned out Spring Training was just a base for what would come in August.

“I was ecstatic,” said Gasper. “I had an interesting three-week span getting DFA'd, getting claimed, getting DFA'd, and then to get claimed here, I got goosebumps. [Nationals president of baseball operations] Paul Toboni called me and he said, ‘You won't believe who picked you back up.' And I was like, ‘Is it the Red Sox?’ He said, ‘Yeah’. I was elated, man.”

The Red Sox already had some familiarity with Gasper after taking him in the Minor League phase of the 2023 Rule 5 Draft. He spent the entire ‘24 season in the organization and made his MLB debut, in which he went hitless in 13 games covering 23 plate appearances. 

Perhaps the most underrated part of Gasper’s return to the Red Sox organization? The chance to reunite with a Red Sox Hall of Famer. 

Rich Gedman was a two-time All-Star and New England tough -- the starting catcher of the AL pennant-winning Sox of 1986. The man known throughout New England as “Geddy” is a tireless worker as the hitting advisor in his hometown of Worcester, Mass., for Boston’s Triple-A club. 

Unprompted, Gasper mentions Gedman’s impact on him during the most torrid stretch of his baseball career.

Gasper had an earlier stint for the Red Sox this season that didn’t go as well, as he had a .613 OPS with no homers and seven RBIs in 107 at-bats over his first 34 games.

What’s the difference since Masataka Yoshida’s unfortunate left hamstring strain created the chance for Gasper to come back?

“Just good mentals,” Gasper said. “Again, working with Rich Gedman every day is a true blessing, and that guy is just so in tune with the game, the mind, just the human [side] in general. He’s just a guy that's been around for so long, been through ups and downs in his own career, and I’ve been able to lean on him. He really gets you in a good state of mind.”

In fact, when Gasper was optioned on June 28, he did what feels right when times are tough.

“I remember when I first got sent down in late June,” said Gasper. “The [WooSox] were on the road and I had one more day before my flight [to join them]. I texted him. I said ‘Geddy, you want to go to Polar Park and hit?’ There was no hesitation. He said, ‘What time?’ He's just always there for you. You really fall in love with the game again being around Geddy.”

Gasper grew up in Merrimack, N.H., which is part of Red Sox country. Given his experience playing for the hometown team, Gedman was able to help Gasper in that respect as well.

“Unfortunately, we have to say no sometimes to some people we've known for a long time and it's just learning from him, for a guy that did it at an incredibly high level and lived closer to Boston than I did,” said Gasper. “He went through everything that I felt was weighing me down, and just to talk with him, I can’t even pinpoint one thing. There’s just millions.”

Some of Gedman’s most concise messages hit home the best.

“We talk a lot about seeing the ball. No matter what your swing's feeling like that day, it's about seeing the ball and you’ve got a shot if your eyes are good,” said Gasper.

Of late, Gasper’s eyes have never felt clearer. His latest setback turned out to be pleasantly brief, getting demoted to Triple-A Worcester on Sunday so the Sox could make room on the roster for the return of Roman Anthony; Gasper was back at Fenway a day later when Willson Contreras went on the injured list.

In the first at-bat of his return, Gasper homered in his team’s wild, 9-8 victory over Seattle. In Tuesday’s 9-6 loss, Gasper again went deep. Knowing this surge won’t last forever, Gasper is intent on staying with his process.

“Doing the same things I've been doing all year in the cage,” said Gasper. “I'm just preparing every day like I do. Just seeing it well.”

And what Red Sox fans are seeing is a player to root for -- one who’s had to fight for every opportunity he gets, which has created a runway for all the homers he’s smashed of late.

Through everything, Gasper has learned this:

“When I'm the next man up, I’ve got to go out there and play well,” he said.

Considering that Anthony didn’t play in a Major League game between May 5-Aug. 29, it was reasonable to expect it might take him a while to find his groove.

Think again. The 22-year-old has created instant offense for the Sox upon his return to action, looking much like the hitter many predicted would be a breakout player in MLB this season.

Anthony has come out of the gate with four straight multi-hit games, going 9-for-18 with two doubles, a triple and a homer.

“Credit to the staff down in Fort Myers, and to the staff in Double-A and Triple-A,” Anthony said. “I think from Day One when I started swinging, it was all about tracking, doing everything I can, to kind of get back and be at full-game speed, so that way I wasn't kind of catching up and adjusting when I got back here. We wanted to put myself in a situation to be as ready as I could when I came back.”

Consider him ready.

On Thursday’s one-month anniversary of Adley Rutschman being traded to Boston from the Orioles, the Red Sox are playing in Baltimore for the start of a four-game series.

Rutschman, who missed the last three games with a hyperextended right shoulder, hopes to return to action. He is sure to get a stirring reception from the home crowd, which watched his evolution from the top pick in the 2019 Draft to a three-time All-Star.

“It’s going to be interesting,” said Rutschman. “Talking to guys who have done it in the past, I’m sure there will be a lot of emotions.”

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