Gasper 'doing everything possible' to make first OD roster

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – In his first Major League Spring Training, Mickey Gasper has continued doing what he has always done: hit.

Sporting an unusual profile – Gasper is 29 and in his seventh professional season – the infielder-catcher has forced the Twins to take notice. He continues to get opportunities and continues to make something of them. And although the roster math is decidedly against him, he’s doing everything he can to force the club’s hand.

You wouldn’t say Gasper is favored to make the team at this point. But as long as he keeps getting at-bats and making the most of them, his candidacy can’t be dismissed.

“It’s clear to me that he’s doing everything possible in this camp to turn heads and work hard,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “He’s a guy that you have to watch play and watch produce to see what he is.”

Acquired via trade from the Red Sox over the offseason, Gasper entered the spring with three career professional starts at second base. He has equaled that in the first two weeks of Spring Training games. That’s partly an indicator that the Twins feel they have more reps to spare at second than at first or catcher. But it also shows his willingness to do whatever it takes.

“I’m in a good spot,” Gasper said. “Mentally, I feel at home at any position. Certainly catching has a special place in my heart, because I just love that whole chess match -- the game within the game back there. But turning double plays is pretty fun. Any time I’ve done that in my career, I come off the field with a big smile. I really enjoy that.”

Gasper is an unusual player in a lot of ways. He was drafted as a catcher, and he has mostly played there and first base. He’s 5-foot-10, which is not prototypical size for first base. And in camp, he has played more second base than anything else. Catcher, first and second is not a combination you see every day.

Gasper is also kind of an old-school hitter. He has a short stroke, spraying line drives and not striking out much. Gasper doesn’t have a lot of power, but he sports a career .392 on-base percentage in the Minors, a number Baldelli has mentioned more than once.

The problem is a different kind of number – roster numbers. The Twins have two established catchers in Christian Vázquez and Ryan Jeffers. They also have Ty France as their likely primary first baseman; Edouard Julien, who is likely to get playing time at first and second; Brooks Lee, who is very much in the mix at second; Jose Miranda at first and DH (and potentially third); and Willi Castro, who can play almost everywhere.

In 2025, very few teams carry three catchers, and even fewer carry eight infielders. Gasper is comfortable at three positions, but he’s not a plus defender at any of them, and the Twins have no interest in seeing if he can handle a fourth.

If Gasper is to crack the roster, he’ll have to hit his way on. The thing is, he has given some reason to think he can do that. Even after an 0-for-3 day with a sac fly in Friday’s 9-9 split-squad tie with the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park, Gasper sports a .350/.364/.500 slash line for the spring. He’s feeling comfortable at the plate, taking good at-bats and producing in the first extended run of chances he has ever gotten in Major League camp.

“Definitely new,” Gasper said. “This is my first big league camp. In ‘23, I was over on the big side with the Yankees for a good chunk of the spring, just because there were some injuries and guys playing in the World Baseball Classic, so I was over there. And I got a decent amount of at-bats. But never this consistent on the big side, playing against the best guys in the world. So this is a first, and I’m hopefully embracing it well.”