Anthony Gose

Anthony Gose is on his way to, or more likely already at, New York, just in case Jose (please don't be hurt) Bautista has to go on the DL. I'm glad they called someone up. Watching Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco play the corner outfield spots for an extended period would likely turn me into a soccer fan.

So what what has Anthony been doing in Vegas? In 91 games he is hitting 293/.376/.434, with 10 triples, 5 home runs, 47 walks, 92 strikeouts and 29 stolen bases, caught 10 times.

A lefty batter, he's had a huge split, hitting .318/.397/.483 against RHP, just .189/.294/.230 against lefties. That quite the split. I guess the Jays would want to use Francisco against LHP, if Gose was up with the team.

He hasn't been stealing bases lately, which surprises me. He is 0 for 4 steal attempts in 11 games in July. In June he had 5 steals, caught once, down from 16 steals in May.

Anthony's been hitting great in July, small sample size and all, .300/.391/.525 in 11 games. June wasn't quite as good, .283/.382/.407.

His defense is what I'm interested to see. I saw him play a little bit in spring training last year, and his range is amazing, which ever corner spot he's in, he'll be massively better than what we've seen up until now. We'd be better off with him in center, but they won't push Colby off his spot for someone that (hopefully) won't be around long (or at all if Jose is ok). His arm is something I'd like to see too, I can't imagine it would be any better than Jose's, but he already has 8 outfield assists.

I asked Tony LaCava about Gose, this spring, and he had this to say:

Anthony is electric. He's another guy with a very high ceiling. He's a legitimate CFer, outstanding speed, very good throwing arm, we think as a hitter he's come a long way and he made significant slow changes last year that he has been able to take into the game and perform. And we are trying to finish him off and get him ready for the big leagues. He'll be working on a 2 strike approach trying to cut down his strikeouts and reintroduce bunting for him, which will be a big weapon for him. We kind of wanted him to work on his swing last year, which he did, and now we are trying to finish him off and work on the finer points.

He has lowered his strikeout rate some. Last year he struck out once every 3.8 plate appearances. This year is once every 4.7 plate appearances.

John Sickels, at Minor League Ball, had an interview with Gose up last week, taken at the 2012 Futures game, posted here.

I really think it is too early to bring Gose up. He's just 21. I don't see the point in getting him up here so young, but I am curious to see him. I think he'll be fun to watch.