The Red Sox placed Willson Contreras on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring, a nagging issue manager Chad Tracy called "a recurring of the same thing" rather than a fresh injury. Contreras is having a career year at the plate —.274 with 26 home runs and 79 RBIs, both new highs in his first season in Boston after coming over from St. Louis — which makes the timing brutal with the stretch run underway.
To fill the gap, Boston recalled Mickey Gasper, and the move doubles as one of the weirder roster whiplashes of the year: Gasper had just been optioned to Triple-A Worcester the day before, only to get the call back up almost immediately once Contreras' hamstring flared. He's not walking into a cold seat either — Gasper has 5 homers and 19 RBIs in limited time with the big club this season, and the timeline lines up with a scorching finish to his stint before the demotion.
Red Sox recalled Mickey Gasper with Willson Contreras going on the IL, and he remains scorching hot!
That heat is exactly what's fueling the buzz around his return. Fans and MLB accounts jumped on the recall the moment it broke, framing Gasper less as a fill-in and more as a guy Boston can't actually afford to keep in the minors.
Mickey Gasper. One of the most feared hitters in baseball
The stakes here go beyond one roster spot. Contreras was traded to Boston to be the middle-of-the-order thumper, and a 26-homer,.274 season validated that swap almost immediately. Losing him for even 10 days, in a season where the Red Sox are jockeying for playoff positioning, is the kind of absence that shows up in the standings if it drags past the minimum.
For now it's Gasper's lineup spot to hold. If he keeps hitting the way he has in his limited big-league sample, Boston may find itself with a genuine decision to make once Contreras is healthy again — not just about who plays, but about how much longer Gasper belongs in Worcester at all.