The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have been connected throughout baseball history through a variety of standout players.
Babe Ruth, of course, brought about The Curse of the Bambino and really sparked the overall rivalry between these two ballclubs.
In relatively recent history, Johnny Damon and Jacoby Ellsbury both were Red Sox stars first and then also suited up for the Yankees to shine in the Bronx.
The latest such crossover, though, is one of the least predictable you could possibly imagine.
Mickey Gasper, the out-of-nowhere breakout star for the Red Sox, didn’t start his career in the Boston organization.
In fact, he was a New York Yankees draft pick.
Wait, the Yankees Had Mickey Gasper?
Yep, the Yankees drafted Gasper in the 27th round of the 2018 MLB Draft.
That’s a round that doesn’t even exist anymore.
Gasper was playing college ball at Bryant University in Rhode Island after growing up in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
He was his conference’s player of the year in 2018, but clearly, he wasn’t viewed as a high-end pro prospect.
As The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner notes in a new article, Gasper is the only player chosen in the 27th round of the 2018 MLB Draft to reach the major leagues.
Now, Gasper is on fire for the Red Sox.
“Gasper has been a switch-hitting, late-summer force for the Boston Red Sox, with a .400 average and six home runs in the last two weeks of August,” Kepner writes. “On Tuesday, when the calendar flipped to September, Gasper homered again.”
Gasper had a 1.671 OPS in August, which has only been topped in a calendar month by Ted Williams, Barry Bonds (twice) and Carlos Pena.
“That’s folk-hero stuff, made even richer by Boston’s decision to option Gasper to the minors last Sunday when two players came off the injured list,” Kepner writes. “The Red Sox lost by 15 runs that day at Yankee Stadium, brought Gasper right back when Willson Contreras strained his hamstring, and he homered in his at-bat on Monday.”
How’d The Red Sox Get Mickey Gasper?
The Red Sox initially took Gasper in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft after he was kept off the Yankees’ 40-man roster.
Even then, though, Gasper needed a winding road of waiver claims to the Minnesota Twins, then the Washington Nationals, before the Red Sox claimed him back again.
“Gasper was nearly 23 years old when the Yankees picked him, and he signed for just $5,000,” Kepner writes. “Teams didn’t quite know where to play him, and they’re still not sure; Gasper has played designated hitter, catcher and first base for the Red Sox, and the Twins also tried him at second base and in left field.”
Gasper is all about his bat. As long as that’s working, he’ll have a spot in the Boston lineup.
There’s no telling whether he would’ve made it to the Yankees in the same way he now has made it to the Red Sox, but it sure is quite the story.
Yankees Drafted Unlikely Red Sox Star Mickey Gasper