PORTLAND — Rich Gedman brings a double whammy of unique perspective to the Portland Sea Dogs clubhouse.

When the Sea Dogs’ new hitting coach offers instruction, he speaks from the experience of someone who once was one of them. And it’s coupled with the enthusiasm that comes from being one of them in the here-and-now, taking another climb up the ladder.

Thirty-five years after he made his first improbable ascent through the Boston Red Sox minor league system, Gedman, 53, is at it again.

For the third straight season, after a winter promotion, the former Sox catcher has a new address and a new business card. Gedman is hitting coach for the Double-A Sea Dogs after holding the same post with short-season Lowell in 2011 and Class-A Salem in 2012.

“It’s nice to be in the organization and have a chance to watch these fine young players develop,” Gedman said. “Portland they say is one of the best places to be, and I’m looking forward to what lies ahead of us. The people here have been warm and receptive.”

Gedman isn’t far from his original home, personally or professionally. He grew up pitching and playing first base in Worcester, Mass.

Passed over in the 1977 amateur draft, Gedman signed a free-agent contract with the hometown Sox that summer. Boston sent him to the instructional league and groomed him as a catcher, where he was to follow in the footsteps of another native New Englander, hall of famer Carlton Fisk.

The rise was relatively quick. Gedman made his big-league debut in 1980 as a pinch hitter for Carl Yastrzemski, and after the Red Sox famously allowed Fisk to slip away in free agency to the Chicago White Sox, Gedman platooned with Gary Allenson behind the plate in strike-shortened 1981.

Gedman’s evolving skills eventually won him the job outright. He clubbed 24 home runs in 1984. A year later, he became only the sixth catcher in the 20th century to hit for the cycle. Gedman also threw out just under half the would-be base stealers he encountered in 1985.

“The nice part is I have a little time to sit there and say ‘I’ve kind of been where you want to go.’ Hopefully I can pass on some advice and help them prepare for what’s ahead of them,” Gedman said.

He spent 11 seasons with Boston before finishing up with Houston and St. Louis. Gedman batted .252 with 88 home runs and 382 RBIs in more than 1,000 career games.

In Red Sox lore, he is best remembered as part of the starcrossed 1986 team that was one strike away from ending the franchise’s 68-year championship drought in Game 6 of the World Series at Shea Stadium against the New York Mets.

Gedman was behind the plate when Portland, Maine native Bob Stanley’s wild pitch to Mookie Wilson got away, tying the score in the bottom of the 10th inning.

No Sox fan needs to be reminded what happened next. Wilson’s ensuing grounder down the first-base line trickled underneath the glove of Bill Buckner, allowing Ray Knight to race home with the winning run. The Mets won the deciding game two nights later.

And yes, if you’re wondering, Gedman can’t deny there was a slight feeling of getting off the hook when the Sox swept the Cardinals in 2004 and the Colorado Rockies in 2007.

“There were plenty of teams, not only the 1986 team but 1975, the 1978 team (that lost a one-game playoff to the New York Yankees), 1967, that were there but just didn’t win a world championship,” Gedman said. “I think it was great for New England. A lot of things changed then for young people. Today they just think the Red Sox win. I think it’s a wonderful thing, but that’s not what a majority of us grew up with.”

As a lifelong fan of the franchise who was born and raised less than an hour from Fenway Park, Gedman had a keen understanding of those highs and lows.

Now that he’s reunited with the organization, Gedman also recognizes the different brand of pressure that winning two rings has created.

“Being a New England guy, it meant a heck of a lot to me to know that the Red Sox and the people of New England had the chance to have a World Series champion,” he said. “The love for baseball here was because of their passion for the game and following the Red Sox as a while, not necessarily whether they were going to win. You have things that happen over the course of time where you sit there and say, what could have changed, what could have been better. But now that they’ve seen the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and again in 2007, they’re just waiting to see when the next one is going to be.”

Gedman managed the Worcester Tornadoes of the independent Can-Am League for six seasons, ending in 2010.

Now in his third year on the Sox farm, he is using his familiarity with everything from the organization to the region’s ever-changing weather, helping other players pursue the dream that was once his.

And with former Sea Dogs managers Carlos Tosca, Fredi Gonzalez and Arnie Beyeler ultimately ascending to major-league managerial and coaching jobs, clearly there is room for Gedman’s advancement, too. But for now, the focus is on the younger generation.

“Some of it is just what they’re dealing with now (the cold weather). The conditions are going to change from time to time,” Gedman said. “That’s why their routines are important to them and taking care of their swings and their arms and their body and that they’re prepared for whatever comes their way.”

He would know.

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