The Twins made a little news last week — call it a blip on the radar screen — after they traded a reliever for a backup catcher still looking for his first major league hit.
Yep. It’s as underwhelming as it sounds.
The Twins sent Jovani Moran, who missed all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, to the Boston Red Sox for Mickey Gasper, a 28-year-old rookie who has experience behind the plate and at second base, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
Gasper appeared in 13 games for the Sox last season and is still looking for that first hit. Across 23 plate appearances, he scored a run, walked four times and whiffed eight times. His minor league numbers are more encouraging, although they usually are for most players. Over six seasons, he slashed .275/.392/.449.
Moran, who last pitched for the Twins in 2023, could certainly strike guys out, but he struggled with this control, his base on balls rate per nine innings checking in at nearly six. His ERA also was 5.31. He had a better season in 2022, but did not appear in as many games. He struck out 54 batters across 40-plus innings, but still nearly walked 20 batters in those innings pitched.
What were Moran’s highlights as a Twin? Well, he struck out the side with two walks in a 9-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on June 3, 2022. He was one of six pitchers to limit the Jays to three runs on four hits. And he whiffed five Red Sox — perhaps the Sox remember that game? — over three innings in a 6-5 loss on Aug. 31, 2022.
And what were the lowlights? He didn’t record an out in a 9-7 loss to the Seattle Mariners on July 25, 2023. Across 14 pitches, he walked two batters and served up three runs on one hit.
“We knew what we needed to do. We just simply didn’t do what we needed to do. There was no secret as to the way that went,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli to the Star Tribune after the game.
“(Jovani) Moran, who has one of the higher walk rates in the league, threw only three of his first 11 pitches in the strike zone,” the Strib reported. “After back-to-back walks to open the eighth inning, Cal Raleigh lined an RBI double to left field on an elevated changeup.”
Despite not a getting a hit in his first major league at bat, Gasper still earned quite a bit of praise for his appearance, according to the Boston Globe.
“Mickey Gasper could be forgiven if he’d been overwhelmed by the moment.
“On his first day in the major leagues, standing in the park where he had attended games since he was 5 years old, the Merrimack, N.H., native was told to grab a bat to pinch-hit for the Red Sox in the 10th inning of a 4-4 game against the Rangers.
“With runners on the corners and one out, he had a chance to make his mark as a big leaguer with a walkoff hit. And yet, in a situation where it would have been natural to swing at anything, Gasper felt comfort. He took pitches off the plate to work a seven-pitch walk that loaded the bases, extending a rally that culminated two batters later with Rob Refsnyder’s walkoff single for a 5-4 Red Sox victory Monday night.”
Sources: Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com