3 things to know about new Red Sox depth arm Logan Gillaspie

Red Sox

Gillaspie has spent his entire major league career with the Baltimore Orioles, a division rival of the Red Sox.

With just a few short weeks left in the 2023 MLB season, the Boston Red Sox made a move to boost their pitching depth.

On Monday, the Red Sox claimed relief pitcher Logan Gillaspie off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A Worcester. They placed outfielder Jarren Duran on the 60-day injured list to make room for Gillaspie on the 40-man roster.

In 28 games spent in two seasons as an Oriole, Gillaspie put together a 4.10 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP in 26.1 innings pitched. The right-hander has struggled this season with a 6.00 ERA in 9 IP and has spent most of his 2023 with Triple-A Norfolk, but his 3.12 ERA in 17.1 IP last season suggests promise and tools the Red Sox can work with.

It’s unclear as to whether or not we will see Gillaspie in the major leagues this season. But if he does pitch at Fenway Park, here are three things to know about him.

He has had a difficult journey to get to the major leagues.

Upon graduating in 2015 from Frontier High School in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., Gillaspie did not hear his name called in that year’s MLB Draft. He then enrolled at Oxnard College, a community college located a few hours away from Bakersfield, and played pitcher and some infield for its baseball team. After leaving Oxnard, he once again went undrafted in the 2017 MLB Draft.

But Gillaspie wasn’t ready to give up baseball. After going undrafted for the second time, he stayed in California and signed with the Pecos League’s Monterey Amberjacks. From there, he moved all across the country, playing in Salina, Kan. (Salina Stockade), Sonoma County, Calif. (Sonoma Stompers) and Metro Detroit, Mich. (Eastside Diamond Hoppers) before signing a minor-league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2018. He made it to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Milwaukee’s Single-A affiliate, with a 3.69 ERA before the Brewers released him in 2019 due to a torn ACL.

In a feature with Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner, Gillaspie revealed that he made most of his living digging pools in the time he spent away from baseball. Interested teams would call him about a potential return to baseball, but they would end those discussions and refused to follow up after learning of his torn ACL. 

But Orioles director of Pro Scouting Mike Snyder kept calling Gillaspie back. Gillaspie would try out for Snyder’s organization in Feb. 2020, who would sign him to a minor league contract in June 2021. He started that year in High-A before moving up to Double-A before that season’s end, and he made his major league debut on May 17, 2022 after just six games spent in Triple-A. 

He relies on four pitches, including a 95 mph fastball.

Gillaspie’s most frequent pitch is his four-seam fastball that travels at 95.6 miles per hour, a speed Baseball Savant places at the 80th percentile among all major leaguers. Forty four percent of all of his pitches this season have been this four-seamer, and it has seen as many plate appearances (23) as every one of his other pitches combined.

But Gillaspie has three other pitches he likes to use, a rare amount for a reliever. Each of these pitches have seen consistent use as well. According to Baseball Savant, 25.7 percent of Gillaspie’s pitches are sliders, 16.8 percent are changeups, and 13.6 percent are curveballs. His slider has a 25 percent whiff rate this season, and his curveball has given him more strikeouts than hits this year.

He’s given Red Sox players trouble in the past.

Gillaspie has faced Boston, his former team’s division rival, six times in his MLB career. It hasn’t always been easy for the Red Sox in those games.