Unheralded (until recently) Mickey Gasper embodies the never-say-die Red Sox in this incredible season

When Mickey Gasper was sent back to Triple-A Worcester on June 28, I figured it might be the last time we saw him as a Red Sox big leaguer.

He had struggled at the plate before the demotion, going 7 for 49 (.143 average) in his previous 15 games, with just two runs batted in and a puny .184 slugging percentage. His defense behind the plate wasn’t exactly reminiscent of 1990 Tony Peña, and at 30 years old … well, unestablished players looking back on their 30th birthday who let a chance slip can’t always count on another coming their way.

Instead, he got another chance — earned it, I should say, with professionalism and production in Triple-A. Gasper has hit .337 with a 1.016 OPS in 196 at-bats for the WooSox this season. So when Masataka Yoshida suffered a hamstring injury in mid-August, the switch-hitter was a logical replacement to come up and try to fill a specific role as the lefty-hitting designated hitter.

Thank goodness another opportunity found him.

Gasper has been so essential, so exceptional, since his return that he has come to embody this wild, winning Red Sox team — one that seems to be better the more presumed replacement-level players it has in the lineup.

Gasper — who we should note was productive early in the season even when the Sox were lousy, hitting .328 with a .789 OPS in 19 games from May 10 through June 3 — has been a wrecking ball in the small but important sample size since his return.

In nine games and 33 plate appearances through Thursday, he’s slashed .417/.576/1.167 with five home runs, 12 RBIs, and seven walks against just one strikeout.

That includes a stretch from Aug. 17-19 when he homered in three straight games against the Diamondbacks, and then a two-homer game Tuesday against the Marlins.

It’s fitting in a couple of ways that Gasper is doing this in immediate advance of a critical four-game series against the Yankees in New York.

Gasper entered professional baseball as the Yankees’ 27th-round pick in the 2018 draft, remaining in the organization through 2023 and advancing to Triple-A. And he’s having one of those insane hot stretches by an unheralded call-up, like Kevin Maas in 1990 or Shane Spencer in ’98, that always seemed to be the fortunate domain of the Yankees.

But yes, more than anything, Gasper embodies these Red Sox. Just like he was, they were written off early in the season with what sure looked like valid reasons, only to find some magic that still isn’t entirely explicable, and yet is so fun that you are left with no choice but to believe.

The Red Sox were 32-46 after an 8-6 loss to the Rockies on June 24. They have gone 41-14 since, carrying a 73-60 record and an argument as the best team in the American League into this Yankees series.

As stunning as it was, there were several reasons for their turnaround: superb starting pitching on a nightly basis; an unassailable back end of the bullpen; easily the best outfield defense in baseball; timely hitting; and an abundance of overdue luck finally bouncing their way.

But the success had to be considered beyond remarkable, because the Red Sox did it and have continued to do it with an assortment of players who were fairly perceived as replacement level.

Those season-rescuers include Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, Nick Sogard, Jahmai Jones, and even Jake Rogers for three games.

I must admit, I’m still not sure what to make of some of these guys, at least in the grand scheme of the organization. I’ve had a reader emailing me for nearly three years now that Sogard deserves a real chance. I scoffed, given that this is his age-28 season, and he had a .656 OPS in 190 plate appearances over the 2024-25 seasons.

So, what’s happened? Sogard has basically been the infielder version of Gasper, getting on base at a .379 clip with a .771 OPS. I still fear that some of these fantastic fill-ins will prove to be like Pedro Ciriaco in 2012, the BABIP god who wasn’t really a big leaguer once his luck ran out.

My greater fear? I’m going to have to eat a crow for the Sogard superfan. A heaping helping, even.

Which brings us to the quandary, the dilemma, and even the conundrum that the Red Sox face at the moment. Some of the underperforming bigger-name players these guys stepped in for are ready to return from injury — or, in Trevor Story’s case, claim they are despite no concurring statistical evidence from a rehab assignment.

Interim manager Chad Tracy has had to navigate various tricky circumstances during his 106 games and 63 victories on the job, but none trickier than this. Who plays more? The presumed replacement-level types who teamed up to help save the season? Or the more established and/or highly regarded ones who were among the reasons the Red Sox ended up in a ditch to start the season?

Talented Roman Anthony is going to usurp some of Gasper’s at-bats. And Story is going to be the Red Sox’ shortstop on most nights, despite a vast majority of fans not wanting this.

They’d better perform. The stakes are high. The last few weeks of games have meaning and importance.

It did not look like that would be the case when they got hurt. But you know what happened: Gasper and those supposed replacement-level players performed so well that appreciative Red Sox fans now dread some of them being replaced.

Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.