Mickey Gasper’s improbable surge at plate will force Red Sox into painful roster decisions
Boston Red Sox
“Sometimes it’s fun to pick out who it’s going to be tonight.”
The Red Sox are eagerly awaiting the return of Roman Anthony to the top of their lineup.
After slugging a pitch into the seats in Worcester’s Polar Park on Tuesday, Anthony could golf offerings into the short porch at Yankee Stadium as soon as Friday evening in The Bronx.
Other reinforcements could be on the way for Boston over the last month of the regular season, including Trevor Story, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and potentially Curtis Mead.
But Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy was quick to note on Tuesday that several of those returning players are not going to just slot back into the lineup — not with how several utility players and Triple-A call-ups have fared over the last few weeks.
“I don’t foresee a scenario where we get new players here, and I’m just going to not play the guys [who have been playing],” Tracy told Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. “We’re getting to the point of the season where we have a month left. It’s about trying to win every single game. What gives us the best chance in that night’s game to do that?
“This is not necessarily the point of the season where it’s like we’re going to work through it. We’ve got to go out there and try to win the game — and that’s with whoever’s available that night to start.”
And when it comes to winning games, it’s hard to ignore the impact that Mickey Gasper has made in Boston’s lineup since his most recent call-up to the big leagues.
The New Hampshire native — who has spent over 500 games in the minor leagues across eight seasons — has made the most of his latest opportunity with Boston. Since getting recalled by Boston on Aug. 16 after Masataka Yoshida landed on the IL, Gasper has been a force out of the DH spot for Boston.
Over his last eight games, Gasper has been on a Ruthian run at the plate — batting .476 with a .621 on-base percentage, five home runs, three doubles, and 12 RBI.
The 30-year-old DH was at it again during Tuesday’s eventual 7-3 win over the Marlins in extra innings — slugging a pair of solo home runs and reaching base four total times.
“He’s swinging the bat great, I don’t know what else to stay,” Tracy said of Gasper postgame. “Other than, it feels like he’s going to get a pitch to hit? He’s going to hit it really hard right now.”
Even though Gasper won’t continue to sport a .621 on-base percentage down the stretch, the veteran is making a compelling case to stay not just on Boston’s roster — but in the lineup — even after several stalwarts like Anthony and Story are cleared for game action.
Other utility players like Anthony Seigler, Andruw Monasterio, and Nick Sogard will certainly also get squeezed by the arrival of fellow middle infielders like Story and Kiner-Falefa. Still, there’s a more-than-valid case to be made that Sogard should remain in place as the club’s second baseman, at the very least.
Gasper’s standing as a DH and occasional catcher/first baseman is a bit of a different case.
Most likely, Anthony’s return would bump Jarren Duran out of left field and into the DH spot down the stretch.
But even with Duran’s pop and speed on the basepaths, it’s not a stretch to say that Gasper has provided far more competitive at-bats than Duran as of late.
Granted, some of that sentiment was also snapped in extra innings on Tuesday. While Gasper’s two big flies put Boston in a position to win, Duran removed all doubt in the top of the 11th — snapping an 0-for-4 showing at the plate with a clutch grand slam to secure a fifth-straight victory for Boston.
Choosing between Duran and Gasper, as well as the pending infield logjam, is a good problem to have for Tracy and the Red Sox. It’s a conundrum that could get further complicated if a potential power bat like Mead (a second baseman and potential DH) also gets cleared just before the end of the regular season.
But in a season where numerous players have all pulled on the rope to help orchestrate the Red Sox’ improbable second-half surge, the contributions of unheralded players like Gasper, Seigler, Sogard, and Monasterio might be the most unexpected development on Boston’s ongoing roller-coaster ride.
And based on what’s transpired over the last month, several of those unsung heroes should stick around for the ride once the calendar flips to the fall.
“Sometimes it’s fun to pick out who it’s going to be tonight,” Payton Tolle said postgame. “Tonight with Mickey — seeming like every time I sat down, it was like, ‘Well, there goes Mickey again.’ Or JD in the … 11th [inning]. It’s fun to be a part of and fun to sit there and watch.”
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