Former Jays outfielder Anthony Gose comes around again, making the majors as a pitcher

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This article was published 08/05/2022 (1280 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Anthony Gose was the final piece to the Roy Halladay trade.

When Alex Anthopoulos traded the Hall of Fame right-hander to Philadelphia in December of 2009, he got pitcher Kyle Drabek, catcher Travis d’Arnaud and outfielder Michael Taylor, immediately swapping Taylor to Oakland for Brett Wallace. Gose was the young outfielder he really wanted, but the Phillies stood fast.

Anthopoulos waited for the Phillies to trade Gose to the Astros the next August and, without missing a beat, shipped Wallace to Houston just minutes later to get his man.

Gose was a prospect with blinding speed and power potential — he stole 70 bases and hit 16 homers in Double-A New Hampshire in 2011 — and he spent parts of the next three seasons with the Blue Jays before being traded to Detroit for Devon Travis. Nearly eight years later, he faced the Jays in a Guardians uniform on Saturday.

From the mound.

Gose is back in the big leagues as a pitcher, and he worked a hitless eighth inning of the opener of Cleveland’s Saturday doubleheader with the Jays. The 31-year-old left-hander struck out Bo Bichette and Bradley Zimmer, while walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

“He throws really hard,” said Zimmer, who saw Gose’s first six big-league pitching appearances when they were teammates in Cleveland last year. “He’s a major-league pitcher now … he’s got a big arm and he’s doing well.”

He wasn’t always. Gose hit .240 in five years with Toronto and Detroit. He played a spectacular centre field but managed just 12 home runs, and while he stole 57 bases he was caught 23 times. He started the conversion to pitching in 2017. Five years and three organizations later, he is a full-fledged member of the Guardians bullpen.

“It was a long journey,” he said Sunday. “It took several years to get here and a lot of ups and downs, but getting here has been very special.”

Blue Jays bench coach John Schneider was a minor-league manager in the Jays organization when Gose came through.

“Didn’t see a big-league pitcher,” Schneider said, “Definitely saw a big-league arm, but (as) an (all-around) prospect. (He) could run, could hit, could throw, could do everything. You never say never, but you really didn’t envision the guy on the mound. You envisioned the guy in the outfield, for sure.”

The Jays have had some incredible defensive centre-fielders — five-time Gold Glove-winner Devon White being the best — and Gose fit in the top tier. He flew around the outfield with abandon, taking away hits on a regular basis and daring runners to try to take an extra base.

That rocket arm works from the mound now — he throws a 97-m.p.h. fastball — but that’s not Gose’s only weapon. He has finished 11 at-bats this season with an effective slider, 10 of them for strikeouts.

Still, he sees himself as a work in progress.

“I think I’m still trying to figure it out,” Gose said about his new role as a big-league reliever. “This organization had a lot of patience with me and taught me everything — the mechanics, the delivery — and we’re still working through it now.”

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They also sent him overseas last summer, letting Gose pitch for the U.S. team at the Tokyo Olympics. He pitched 5 1/3 innings without giving up a run in the tournament, helping his country to a silver medal.

That confirmed Gose’s belief he is a former position player. He’s a pitcher now, not a pitcher who can also be a defensive replacement in the outfield or a pair of legs off the bench.

“I don’t want to,” Gose said, of playing a multi-purpose role. “No desire. I don’t run anywhere near like I used to. I don’t want to hit, I don’t want to play the outfield. I don’t want to do any of that anymore. I just want to pitch.”

With that big fastball and killer slider, he’s off to a terrific start in the second phase of his big-league career.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness