Have the Twins Found Their Next Cult Hero in Mickey Gasper?

No, they have not 

40 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

I'd be surprised if Gasper was ever a true plus value bat. Whether or not Gasper could be a regular depends on his defense and position.

I don't expect him to be a regular, just like I don't expect that out of Keirsey. I am hopeful they can come up from the minors and fill-in adequately until the regulars are healthy again.

Gasper did not have a good day in today's game  ...

3 strikeouts and 1 error ...

It's not up to me if he makes the team for opening day , if he does , we will have to open another discussion , if memory serves me right he's a switch hitter so that helps his chances , I haven't been following him much on his splits ... 

A bit early. He hasn’t even played a regular season game for the Twins yet.

I hope that he does become a cult hero, because that means he'll have had at least one season where he did some awesome and memorable things. Astudillo became a cult hero not just because of the flowing hair and fun factor of his appearances, but because he knocked the snot out of the ball in his initial foray with the Twins. It turned out to be small sample size mania and once he was exposed as a guy who would swing at anything he couldn't sustain it, but what fun we all had that september.

Gasper is a fascinating case of how a player's development can go sideways without the player ever really performing poorly. gasper looks like he's had some injuries along the way, and the missing COVID minor league year followed by an injury season seemed get him lost as a prospect. He hit quite well in 2022, but now he's 26 and no longer looking like a catching prospect. Yankees only gave him 20 games at AAA in 2023 before burying him back in AA for...reasons? Boston picks him up but starts him back in AA AGAIN? Gasper hit AA pitching just fine in parts of 4 different seasons, so why waste half the year with him in AA at age 28?

Good luck to him hope he gets a legit chance and is able to do something with it. Wouldn't mind at all having a switch-hitting bench bat who can cover a couple of positions, DH, and be an emergency catcher. He seems to know the strike zone well and that's a good skill.

Astudillo and Dobnak? Yikes. I'll pass on another replacement level player that gets way too much run....

Buxton and Correa will undoubtedly be the statistical leaders in most missed games...hey, just kidding...well maybe not...

I am of the opinion that Baseball should be fun.  For me cheering for an underdog is fun.  I think that is the premise of this article even though it seems to trigger some folks.

The idea of Mickey making the 26 person roster makes me gasp. Er, you know what I mean.

For about 6 weeks. 

21 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Gasper is behind the plate again today. There's been quite a bit of speculation about how viable he is as a catcher. It seems it is beyond the "emergency catcher" threshold of Kyle Farmer the last two seasons. Farmer came to the majors as a catcher, but hadn't played behind the plate for several years. Gasper seems more likely to be similar to Willians Astudillo, who actually started a few games at catcher in his Twins career.  Having a third catcher would be a nice bonus, allowing Jeffers to DH some without the worry of losing the DH if Vázquez has to come out of a game or if the Twins would need to pinch run for a catcher late in the game. 

If Gasper can pinch-hit for Vazquez and finish the game behind the plate he might have a role on the team.