And so it goes, and so it goes, and you’re the only one who knows.
A product of Bellflower High School in Bellflower, California and the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Anthony Gose dominated the Southern California high school baseball scene in the early-to-mid-2000s and was on pace to be the highest left-handed pitcher drafted since Bill Bordley, who was drafted 4th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1976 MLB June Amateur Draft.
Unfortunately for Gose, some rotator cuff tendinitis during his senior season gave teams enough doubt to have his draft stock plummet and he ended up being selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft, 51st overall instead. It is a pastime for baseball scouts and talking heads to throw around wildly inappropriate comparisons for teenagers who can’t legally drink alcohol or rent a car, and for Gose, Baseball America likened him to fellow flame-throwing lefties Scott Kazmir and Billy Wagner.
It didn’t stop there, though. Before Gose logged a single professional inning, analysist and talking heads were talking about him in the same breath as multiple-time all-stars and eventual Hall of Famer Roy Halladay. Well, what I told you was true, from a certain point of view, anyway.
Just prior to the 2010 trade deadline, the Phillies included Gose in a package that was sent to the Houston Astros in exchange for Oswalt. Before Gose could even suit up for an Astros minor league affiliate, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Brett Wallace. Months earlier, GM Alex Anthopoulos had tried to acquire Gose in the Roy Halladay trade, floating a deal to then-Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. to send the six-time all-star to the City of Brotherly Love in exchange for pitcher Kyle Drabek, catcher Travis d’Arnaud, and Gose, but the deal was rejected and Gose eventually replaced in the final deal with outfielder Michael Taylor.
So, did Gose’s development as a prospect live up to such lofty expectations? As he climbed up the minor league ladder, did scouts and evaluators see shades of Scott Kazmir, Billy Wagner, Roy Oswalt, or Roy Halladay? In a word: no. In a few more words: until 2017, when he was 26-years-old and growing a bit long in the tooth as a “prospect”, Anthony Gose did not throw a single professional inning. Despite being drafted by the Phillies in 2008 as a pitcher, the decision was made that he break in as a professional as an outfielder, so that he could play everyday and the teams he played for could benefit from his above-average speed, power, and defense. Maybe in today’s day and age things would’ve been different, but the concept of “two-way player” was alien and non-existent in 2008, just like Uber, iPads, and Bitcoin. Gose was going to be a hitter, and so a hitter he was going to be.
A hitter he was, but unfortunately, he was a bad one. Between 2008 and 2017, he averaged a 93 wRC+ in the minor leagues and a 78 wRC+ in 372 cumulative games in the majors with the Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers. He could steal bases, swiping a total of 288, but a lot of good that does if you’re not getting on base much to begin with.
In 2017, at the age of 26, when it became very apparent that his professional baseball days might be over sooner rather than later, Gose returned to the mound in an effort to prolong his career. While he might not have been able to thrive as a batter, maybe he would be able to get a second baseball life by returning to his roots. Not everyone is capable to throwing 100 MPH like Gose could, so why not try?
After starting the pitching experiment in the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers systems, Gose continued refining it in the Cleveland Indians/Guardians system. On September 20, 2021, the southpaw made his MLB pitching debut, throwing 1.2 innings and allowing an earned run on a walk and a double while striking out one. He appeared in a few more games in 2021 and ended the season giving up just that one run in 6.2 innings, allowing 2 hits, walking 2, and striking out 9. In 2022, he posted a 4.71 ERA in 21.0 innings over 22 games, allowing 15 hits, walking 14, and striking out 28. Just like everything else in his career, nothing goes according to plan, and just as it seemed that he was hitting his stride and really settling into being a pitcher, he was placed on the 60-day injured list with a strained left tricep and underwent Tommy John surgery a few weeks later. He missed all of 2023 and the majority of 2024, appearing in 44 combined games for the Guardians and their Triple-A affiliate before signing a minor league contract with the Mets.
What should we expect from Anthony Gose, who has an invitation to spring training but will most likely begin the year with the Syracuse Mets barring unforeseen injuries to the Mets’ bullpen or the southpaw coming out of the gates on fire?
Gose relies on two pitches, a slider and a fastball, but both are fairly good pitches. In 2022, his last season before Tommy John surgery, he threw his fastball roughly 2/3 of the time and his slider 1/3, but in 2024 he used his fastball a little bit less and his slider a little bit more in both his time in Triple-A as well as in the majors, with his fastball usage down to just over 50% and his slider usage up to just under 50%. His fastball sits in the upper-90s, regularly flirting with 100 MPH. The pitch isn’t just pure brute strength either, as it averaged about 16 inches of induced vertical break. His slider sits in the upper-80s and features short, late slice with roughly 2 inches of drop and 4 inches of break.
Gose’s slider was a well-above-average pitch in 2024, while his fastball was fringe-average, with his slider having a 38.5% CSW (Called Strike+Whiff) Rate and his fastball having a 26.4% rate, to a 2024 Triple-A average of 28%. While neither pitch got too many batters to chase, with his slider posting a 31.1% Chase Rate and his fastball a 35.3% rate to an average of 30.7%, batters had a hard time putting either pitch in play. His slider had a 65.9% Z-Contact Rate, as opposed to the 2024 Triple-A average of 82.7%; likewise, his fastball was also harder to hit, with an 80.4% rate.
Wildness, more so with his slider, has been a problem for the southpaw. In his 44.2 innings with the Columbus Clippers in 2024, had a 14.1% BB%, 5.4 batters per nine innings. That was not a blip, as he had a 15.2% BB% (6.0 BB/9) in 21.0 innings with the Cleveland Indians in 2022 and a 19.4% (7.6 BB/9) in 33.0 innings with Columbus in 2021.
Gose wears number 99, and the Mets have had two players in team history don double-nines, also both pitchers. The last, Taijuan Walker, had a solid two years in New York, and the first, Turk Wendell, was not just a solid pitcher, but also ingrained himself into Mets lore with his quirky superstitions. Here’s hoping that, should Anthony Gose make the Mets, he brings honor to that 99.
In every bullpen, there is a spot
A sanctuary safe and strong
To heal the wounds from relievers past
Until a new one comes along.
I speak to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
Fandom is my self defense
And every time I’ve watched the Mets
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you, soon, I suppose