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Mickey Gasper is rejoining the Boston Red Sox after a previous stint in which he went hitless at the plate.
The Boston Red Sox are looking for another infielder after failing to replace third baseman Alex Bregman, who left in free agency. According to a report by Katie Woo and Will Sammon of The Athletic, Boston is specifically in the hunt for a right-handed hitting infielder, as the opening of spring training stands one week away. On Wednesday, the Red Sox added an infielder to their 40-man roster, but this one may not have been what they—or Red Sox fans—had in mind.
The Red Sox announced on their social media account that they had “claimed C/INF Mickey Gasper off waivers from the Washington Nationals. Boston’s 40-man roster is now at 39.”
Frustrating But Brief First Boston Stint
Red Sox fans will remember 30-year-old Gasper from his stint with the Red Sox in 2024, a brief tenure that was memorable for an unfortunate reason. Appearing in the major leagues for the first time after a seven-year minor league grind, Gasper came to the plate 23 times for the Red Sox in 13 games.
Playing in front of what was in effect a hometown crowd at Fenway Park, a native of Merrimack, New Hampshire, who played college baseball for four years at Bryant College in Smithfield, Rhode Island—both about an hour’s drive from Boston—Gasper had his parents at most of his games at Fenway, anxiously awaiting their son’s first major league hit.
It never came.
Gasper went 0-for-18 in his brief Red Sox tenure. After the season, the Red Sox traded Gasper to the Minnesota Twins for left-handed reliever Jovani Morán, who also had a short stint with the Red Sox, appearing in just two games last season.
Gasper No Longer Hitless
The switch-hitting Gasper returns to the Red Sox no longer hitless. He managed his first big league base hit on March 29, 2025. While occupying the Twins’ designated hitter slot for a game at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals, a hustling Gasper beat out a ground ball to deep shortstop.
The Red Sox had two vacancies on their 40-man roster after trading pitchers Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. Gasper now fills one of those slots, guaranteeing him a spot at spring training for Boston—unless the Red Sox designate him for assignment again. Both the Twins and the Nationals have already DFA’d the mustachioed infielder this offseason.
Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 27th round in 2018 and selected in the minor league round of the Rule 5 draft by Boston in December 2023, Gasper now has 15 big league hits, all with the Twins, in 110 plate appearances, including two home runs and one double.
Minor League Stats Look Better
His Triple-A stats look much more impressive. According to MLBTrade Rumors, Gasper “has taken 412 Triple-A appearances over the past two years with 18 home runs, a 13.3 percent walk rate, 14.1 percent strikeout rate, a .325/.427/.560 line and 158 wRC+.”
“If Gasper could bring even a portion of that minor league offense up to the big leagues, that would be great,” wrote MLBTR‘s Darragh McDonald on Wednesday. “Even if that doesn’t happen, he provides loads of defensive versatility.”
Gasper, even in his short time in the major leagues, has appeared at all of the infield positions except shortstop and has caught 19 games. The latter may be the reason that Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was interested in taking another flyer on Gasper.
The versatile defender becomes the eighth catcher added to the organization this offseason, providing the big league club with plenty of options if backup backstop Connor Wong goes through another season like the one he had in 2025, when injury limited him to just 63 games, with a .500 OPS and a .190 batting average and no home runs.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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