Mickey Gasper has finally joined his New Hampshire childhood friends on the other side of the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry.
The Red Sox selected the 28-year-old catcher, a graduate of Merrimack High (N.H.) and Bryant University, from the Yankees in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft in December.
“I was, in fact, a Yankees fan growing up,” said Gasper, whose family originally lived in New Jersey. “(Because of) work my parents ended up bringing us up to New Hampshire where I was surrounded by Red Sox fans. And I was able to hold my ground even through 2004 when I was in fourth grade and my heart was broken.”
Gasper’s favorite childhood team drafted him in the 27th round in 2018. He played five seasons in New York’s minor league system.
“I certainly grew up on Red Sox games though with NESN,” Gasper said. “Listening to Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo was honestly more common than watching Yankees games, being in New Hampshire. We are certainly baseball fans first in the Gasper household. We appreciate the game and all the beauty of it but I was a Yankee fan growing up.”
Gasper brings additional catching depth at the upper-levels of the Red Sox minor league system. The 5-foot-9, 205-pound switch-hitter has batted .258 with a .377 on-base percentage, .424 slugging percentage, .801 OPS, 36 homers, 53 doubles, three triples, 158 runs, 149 RBIs, 166 walks and 210 strikeouts in 315 games (1,220 plate appearances) in his minor league career.
He’s likely to begin the 2024 season either at Triple-A Worcester or Double-A Portland. If he ends up at Portland, he’ll reunite with one of his former coaches. Gasper grew up catching, then played shortstop for a couple years between Little League and high school ball. He began catching again at 14-15 years old when he took lessons at The Show baseball academy out of Lawrence, Mass. He learned there from instructors Steve Lomasney, a former Red Sox catcher, and Chad Epperson, who caught eight years in the minor leagues and has coached in the Red Sox system since 2002. Epperson has served as Portland’s manager since 2022.
“One current Red Sox and another Red Sox lifer really in Steve — he’s always been a part of that organization — got me back into catching,” Gasper said.
“That would certainly be full circle being able to play for him (Epperson at Portland),” Gasper added. “He’s a great guy. We have continued to be friends in the years playing against his teams. And I’m really looking forward to getting to work with him.”
Gasper got the chance to play at Worcester’s Polar Park while he was a member of Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, Scranton Wilkes-Barre, in 2023. He went 6-for-14 with a double, two walks, one RBI, two strikeouts and a stolen base in four games.
“Polar Park is beautiful,” Gasper said. “I enjoyed it. I had a good week there. It was a nasty weekend. It was rainy and cold and I was getting some hits. So I enjoyed myself at Worcester. So I’m very excited to compete for a chance to play there again. And I definitely have my sights set on Fenway. That would be a dream come true. I’m working hard and that’s really what I want to do is compete up there.”
Gasper didn’t know whether or not the Yankees had placed him on the 38-man Triple-A roster after the season. According to MiLB.com: “In the MiLB phase, any player who meets the same eligibility requirements of the MLB Rule 5 Draft who is not added to the organization’s 38-man Triple-A roster can be selected by another team.”
“I was kind of in the dark,” he said. “I was very surprised. But very exciting news to hear that day.
“I was actually hitting the batting cage and I changed a song on my phone that was playing,” Gasper added. “And I saw like five text messages come in from different people. I saw my agent was one of them. I was like, ‘Oh. I wonder what’s going on?’”
Gasper said he received a phone call from the Red Sox before he could even open his agent’s text message.
“That’s how I found out,” Gasper said. “And then I saw the message from my agent. He told me, ‘You’re a Red Sox now.’
He has received plenty of messages from his friends in New England.
“I sure did. I got a few texts,” he said. “My friends have been waiting. They are very supportive. Every game in Portland that I played, Worcester, New Hampshire against the Fisher Cats, my support staff comes out and shows their love to me and I’m very grateful for them. They certainly were excited. I’ve got a lot of people that are ready to see me up in New England for a consistent amount of time.”
Gasper and his dad Michael Sr. both go by “Mickey” and they’re big Mickey Mantle fans. Gasper said the nickname suits them well because it’s a “baseball name.”
“Certainly my dad playing throughout my childhood was the foundation for me,” Gasper said. “Being around the field and seeing him play. He played in a pretty competitive men’s league going to national tournaments. He was on a good club.”
Gasper’s grandfather also played baseball while he served in the United States Navy.
“It was where he was stationed,” said Gasper, adding that his grandfather’s team played against different branches of the military that also had teams.
Gasper has seen a photo of grandfather wearing a Navy jersey.
“So baseball is a big part of the Gasper household,” he said.
Gasper received only a $5,000 signing bonus (per Baseball America) as the 817th overall pick in 2018. He has given lessons to supplement his income.
“I’m pretty blessed with two parents who have totally bought in on me pursuing my baseball career,” Gasper said. “I’ve given lessons throughout the years. During the COVID (canceled) seasons for the minors I was working a lot of camps down in Texas, giving lessons. So everything has really stayed in the game of baseball. I take a lot of pride in my work and in my preparation. So I try to focus on being a baseball player first and try to be fiscally responsible so I can make it last until you maybe see some of the bigger bucks.”
His parents no longer live in New Hampshire. They moved back to New Jersey in 2019.
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Gasper batted .246 with a .361 on-base percentage, .375 slugging percentage, .736 OPS, seven homers, eight doubles, 37 runs, 28 RBIs, 34 walks, 43 strikeouts and 10 stolen bases in 74 games (266 plate appearances) between Double-A Somerset (52 games) and Scranton Wilkes-Barre (22 games).
“I want to drive the ball,” he said about his offensive approach. “I want to hit it hard. I want to drive in runs. The name of the game is scoring runs. When you’re a guy who can go up there and have the confidence to knock people in and pick up those runners in scoring position, that’s a winning ballplayer. That’s the way I want to play. So just really being a hitter.”
Gasper has started games at catcher, first base and second base in the minors. He has the chance to help in the development of Boston’s two top pitching prospects, Wikelman Gonzalez and Luis Perales, this season.
“I’m going to work with (pitchers). I’m going to talk to them,” he said. “I’m not afraid to let people know what I think. And I’m not going to be offended if they tell me what they think. I love competing. So as a catcher, I think I bring that competitive edge. And I think guys like throwing to me because of how into the game I am. And that’s the beauty of catching. You’re in every pitch. And every pitch matters. You don’t have time to think about something else or worry about something else. You’ve gotta be totally bought in on every pitch and every second. I’ve learned that the only thing that matters is how that pitcher is feeling that day when you’re catching. If he wants to throw it to you, if he’s in good spirits, I think you’ve got a good chance of winning that day.”
