Mickey Gasper’s stunning breakout season with the Boston Red Sox ended in an instant Friday, when a two-strike swing tore his right biceps clean off the bone, according to a report by Red Sox WEEI reporter Rob Bradford.
Boston will play its wild-card playoff series, and any other playoff series should they advance, without the utility man whose midsummer power binge turned into one of the best stories of the club’s late-season turnaround, leaving manager Chad Tracy’s bench thinned out at the worst possible time.
Gasper was catching Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs at Fenway Park when he swung through a fifth-inning strikeout and immediately grabbed at his arm. He grimaced walking back to the dugout, and Connor Wong took over behind the plate before the top of the sixth.
How Mickey Gasper’s Boston Red Sox Injury Happened
“At this point, it looks like a significant biceps injury, so he’s going to still be seeing more doctors and stuff like that,” Tracy said, as quoted by MLB.com‘s Ian Browne. “We’ll get the final conclusion, but it’s a pretty significant biceps injury. It’s probably going to take him out.”
That turned out to be an understatement. According to Bradford, Gasper will return to Boston where he will have surgery on his right biceps on Friday.
Sports medicine physician Jesse Morse described a full-thickness tear of the tendon, meaning the biceps separated entirely from the bone and surgery is the only fix. Morse said recovery typically runs six to eight weeks with no expected long-term effect, putting Gasper on track to be ready for offseason work and spring training in 2027.
The Red Sox placed Gasper on the 10-day injured list Sunday, retroactive to Sept. 26, with a right biceps strain. As a result, Gasper was left off the Red Sox playoff roster, but worse than that, the 30-year-old from New Hampshire‘s season, and any hope of playing in the postseason, is over.
Gasper’s bat against right-handers had turned into a real option against playoff pitching. Now Boston enters October counting on Jarren Duran and Roman Anthony to cover left field and DH against right-handers, with one fewer safety net.
Mickey Gasper’s Breakout and Long Road to Boston
Gasper made his major league debut in August 2024, and proceeded to go 0-for-18 in his brief call-up.
Gasper hit just .243 in his first big league stint of this year before Boston optioned him back to Triple-A Worcester in late June. Recalled Aug. 16 after Masataka Yoshida’s injury, he turned into a different hitter almost overnight, running a scorching stretch that produced the second-highest monthly OPS by any hitter with at least 40 plate appearances in a single month, trailing only Barry Bonds’ otherworldly April of 2004.
He backed it up with a seven-game run that ranked sixth all time in OPS, behind only Bonds, Shawn Green, Bryce Harper, Babe Ruth and Josh Hamilton. He finished the year having hit 10 homers with 24 RBI in 67 games, splitting time at catcher, first base and designated hitter.
The switch-hitter’s path to Fenway Park ran through eight minor league seasons. The Yankees took him in the 27th round of the 2018 draft out of Bryant University, where he became the first position player from the program to reach the majors, joining pitchers Keith MacWhorter and James Karinchak, his old college roommate. He debuted with Boston in 2024, went to Minnesota that winter in a trade, bounced through Washington on waivers, landing back with the Red Sox to start 2026.
Gasper is expected to be back in the mix for a utility role next season. For now, the Red Sox move forward into the playoffs without the unlikeliest hitter of their season.
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