Former Silver Knight Mickey Gasper enjoyed playing for the Red Sox but now sets his sights on being with the Twins in 2025. (Courtesy photo)

One buzz of a cell phone can change a pro athlete’s life.

Case in point: Mickey Gasper was enjoying a quiet early Christmas Eve dinner in New Jersey with his parents when his cell phone rang.

“We were just about wrapping it up and it was from a number I hadn’t had, I just saw ‘Boston Red Sox’ on the caller ID,” Gasper said. “And I thought, ‘I wonder who could be calling me on Christmas Eve?'”

He found out – it was Red Sox general manager Craig Breslow, telling him he’d been traded to the Minnesota Twins for lefty pitcher Jovani Moran.

“He just informed me of the trade,” Gasper, the former Nashua Silver Knight and Merrimack High standout said. “It was a little bittersweet, obviously growing up in the area and all the people there that supported me.

“But at the same time there’s an organization out there that wants me to be part of their team. You think about all the sad stuff for a second, but then immediately go ‘Let’s go.’ A team wants me to play for them, they went out of their way to come get me. I was pretty stoked.”

It wrapped up what was a pretty whirlwind 2024 for Gasper. Before 2023 ended, he was plucked from the Yankees by the Red Sox in the Rule V Draft, and then spent the 2024 season in the Sox organization and was a fast riser through the ranks. He started the year in Double A Portland, Me.and then was promoted to Triple A Worcester, where he tore up the Intenational League. And then, in mid August, got the call from the WooSox on an off day to head to Fenway for the game that night as he had just been promoted to the Majors.

Moran has appeared in 79 Major League games, all in relief for the Twins, with a 4.15 ERA and .208 batting average against. But he did not pitch in the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery.

The Twins evidently were patient in making the deal as they had, from what Gasper was told by new Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll, who replaced Thad Levine in November, targeted him as someone they wanted to acquire a week earlier.

“When (Zoll) called me he said they almost got me the week before, but it kind of fell through,” Gasper said. “But I guess they picked talks back up a week later, were spit balling something else, and my name ended up getting put back in there. It seemed like the Twins wanted me and did the work to get me on their club.”

Gasper’s versatility likely made him desirable. Known originally as a catcher, he can play first, second and the outfield, or DH. He played first and second with the Red Sox in his 13 game stint with Boston.

“Carrying three catchers doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in today’s game,” Gasper said, “unless they know that third catcher can play a different position. … Catching is a one-pitch-away type of positon when you need another catcher. So I think as long as I continue to work on that – I’ve never given up the idea of me being a catcher – that’s always been a positon I’ve worked at, enjoyed working at, enjoyed catching bullpens. To be able to do that, to go along with my bat, and then how the cards kind of fell with the Yankees that I needed to try second base. You make enough plays over there, where you’re trustworthy enough, you start getting a chance.”

What’s Gasper’s favorite? He enjoyed playing second base in the winter leagues in Puerto Rico rather than catch, because of the heat.

“I love catching I love the chess match, within the chess match that you’re doing when your back there. Catching’s a lot of fun for me, to be able to be into every pitch mentally, play that cat and mouse game, see how I can lead that pitcher into the fifth-sixth inning.”

Did the Twins tell him why they liked him?

“I really haven’t heard, they didn’t tell me about why they liked me,” Gasper said. “The way I play, similar reasons why the Red Sox liked me. The GM told me to bring all my gloves.

“I’m bringing all three, I’m going in there with pitchers and catchers, and I’m going to take ground balls every day along with catching. I’m going to do whatever I can to make that Opening Day roster.”

Gasper will miss playing at Fenway, saying “It’s like heaven.” He played against the Twins in spring training last year. He played vs. the Twins’ Triple A club in St. Paul in 2023 “so I got of feeling for the cold in April in Minnesota.

“It’s a pretty fresh start, similar to when I got to the Red Sox. I’m going in there to make a great first impression, be a great teammate and help the Minnesota Twins win. There’s a lot of talent there. … Guys that are really, really good. I don’t want to speak for how the team is feeling but I know it’s a winning culture and I’m sure not making the playoffs last year left a bad taste in their mouths.

“I’m hungry and I have a bad taste my mouth from last year too (no hits in his 13 MLB games). I have a lot to prove. I want to help them win and get to learn from guys like Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa, get to catch Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Chris Paddack, there’s a lot of veteran presence there to learn from.”

If Gasper makes the parent club with the Twins, he could be returning to Fenway when Minnesota is in Boston for a weekend series May 2-4. It would be the Twins only appearance at Fenway this upcoming season.

But what a whirlwind 2024 was for Gasper. In 92 minor league games he had a .970 OPS with 12 homers. His season success was first mainly a catcher hitting .289 with Double A Portland, playing for Sea Dogs manager Chad Epperson – the former Nashua Pride catcher from the 2000 Atlantic League title team.

“He was great,” Gasper said. “A lot of responsibility getting the younger guys ready to move up, I took it to try to help him out, show the young cats how the game goes and how to handle ourselves, they did great.”

Then, after being promoted in June to, Triple A Worcester, where he batted over .400. Then, on August 12, Gasper was called up to the parent club.

When Gasper got to Worcester, he became the toughest out in the minor leagues. What changed?

“I was just continuing my work, continuing what’s worked for me in my career, and believing in it,” he said.

In fact, Gasper still has the hitting tee that late Nashua area hitting guru Bob Caswell gave him when he was eight years old. “I hit off that every day,” he said, adding that the combination of Doug Clark and Rich Gedman in Worcester really raised his level.

“It was phenomenal,” he said. “Probably the most special tandem (of coaches) in my career that I’ve been able to work with. The contrast of personalities but at the same time the love for baseball. I could always go to them and talk to them. Always ready to work, it was a really great group in Worcester to work with.

“And same in the big leagues with the Red Sox. Luck didn’t go my way, but Luis Ortiz up there… Rosie, Ben Rosenthal, it was a really great group of guys I got to spend time with and learn from.”

Gasper had some brief time in Triple A with the Yankees, and struggled. But during his time in Worcester “I was more relaxed. But at the same I was hungry to prove people wrong. So I think that combination of being there, and getting my feet wet the year before (in Scranton) and failing, and knowing what it’s like to fail and handle fail brought me a clear mind, but also a very intense and focused and hungry mind to show my worth. I think those are some situations that I thrive in.”

Did he have any inkling he was about to be called up in August?

“You know, I kind of thought after our week against the Mets, that was the week I was International Player of the Week,” he said.

But on the bus back, they announced a player was being called up, but it wasn’t him. So he figured the Sox were all set, “and maybe not the year. I can kind of put it in the back of my head. I was getting comfortable, ready to relax, and I got the phone call.

“It’s always on your mind,just because that’s what you dream for, it’s what you always wanted. For me it was just a matter of good, bad, ugly, great. You’ve got to continue what your routine is and go through everything the same.”

Gasper’s story captured the attention of New England fans as he was a former Merrimack High School and Bryant University standout, and then was the Futures Collegiate League Player of the Year in 2016 with the Nashua Silver Knights.

But after the Red Sox selected him last December, Gasper, 29, had tremendous success at the plate. and made his MLB debut with Boston that night. He drew a walk as a pinch hitter to keep a Red Sox rally alive in a 5-4 Sox win over the Texas Rangers. He was the second former Silver Knight to appear in the Majors; the first was first baseman Chris Shaw, who played in Nashua in 2012, now formerly of the San Francisco Giants.

The NESN cameras would routinely show Gasper’s parents – who now reside in New Jersey – in the Fenway stands whenever he would be at the plate seeking his first Major League hit. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as Gasper went 0 for 18 with four walks and 8 strikeouts. It was getting to Gasper that his parents were in suspense all the time.

“I thought too much of that,” he said. “That was frustrating. For me, in between innings, I’d check the I-Pad for a couple of pitches, and see a swing, and you look at the broadcast so I could see the strike zone. And I see my parents stressing every pitch. So I gave the I-Pad a rest.”

He appeared in 13 games, getting a few starts, mainly at second base. He played two games at first as well. Although considered a catcher when the Yankees drafted him in the 27th round in 2018, Gasper was also seeing time as a first baseman, outfielder, and at second base. The Red Sox, especially manager Alex Cora, liked his versatility – and it’s that versatility that reportedly appealed to the Twins.

Gasper liked playing for Cora. “He’s a players guy, he goes out of his way to not only hold us accountable but also bring us together and keep us as a unit. I had a lot of fun playing for him, I learned a lot. I would’ve liked to get a little more time from him. That’s the way the business goes. Now I get to learn from a New England legend in (Twins manager) Rocco Baldelli. That’s the beauty of the game of baseball. A lot of great minds out there that all bring something different.”

Gasper was sent down to Worcester at the end of August by the Sox but was recalled later in September.

“Like everybody, you get a taste for that life, you never want to leave,” he said of how he felt when he was sent back down. “Obviously I was a little upset, but I understood the logistics of it, certainly. It’s just how the game goes. The team felt the other guys gave them a better chance to win; it was hard to argue what my stat sheet said. … It’s a tough business, you’ve got to put up numbers. Some better luck, maybe I stay up there. Maybe even if I go 7 for 10 I still go back down, what the team needed at that time.”

He enjoyed playing for a playoff spot in Worcester, and was hoping to go to the Triple A World Series in Vegas, which was his focus in Triple A.

But Gasper now has had a taste of the good life in the bigs, and he certainly wants more.

“It’s not even close to what you imagined, it’s times 10,” he said. “It’s Presidential. You’re being escorted around. You’re not sitting in traffic on the bus on the way to the airport. The hotels, it’s what you dream of, it’s beautiful.

“And Fenway Park is a different animal, man. It’s almost indescribable for me. I’m not that good with words to put a description on Fenway, but it’s like heaven. Everybody’s into the game, it’s an intense atmosphere, it feels like a ballpark. It’s a level of intensity I haven’t really felt in my career until you’re there.”

Gasper had never played there in any type of college All-Star event, etc. The one time he was supposed to be there was a Cape League workout and it rained that day, “so we went down into the cages.”

Gasper didn’t think the jump to the Majors was “astronomically better”. The key was to not let any external distractions get to him.

“It’s easy to look around, it’s easy to put pressure on yourself to succeed,” he said. “It’s really, really easy to let things that have no effect on the game get to you. Stay locked in between the ears. You could see that from the best guys.”

Gasper saw how that approach and focus could help; he noticed that when he faced the Arizona Diamondbacks, who had been in the World Series the year before.

“You run into guys who are the best of the best,” Gasper said. “That’s professional sports. Those are the guys that make all that money because how good they are physically but how they’re able to stay locked in mentally. That’s what I learned.”

Gasper has worked hard throughout his career. He’s reached one part of his dream by making the Major Leagues.

“You get there, now the goal is to stay there,” Gasper said. “The way you stay there is by being a winning player, learning every day, you can’t make the same mistakes every day. It’s about improving every single chance you have out on that field.

“I’ve learned from last year, I’m thrilled to get to Minnesota and show them what they’ve got.”