Gose’s developmental path will be accelerated because he’s 26 years old, so he wouldn’t necessarily have to make every stop on the organizational ladder before reaching the big leagues.
HOUSTON — When Anthony Gose made his professional debut as a pitcher Monday night in Lakeland, Fla., it offered the public a glimpse of what the Detroit Tigers have been watching for the last seven weeks in extended spring training.
Gose is the real deal.
That’s not to say fans should expect to see him in the Tigers bullpen anytime soon. But they shouldn’t rule it out, either.
The converted outfielder, now a left-handed reliever, allowed one run on one hit and a walk in one inning of work for the Class A (Advanced) Lakeland Flying Tigers on Monday.
But it was the radar gun that tantalized observers. Gose hit 99 mph on his first pitch and was between 96-99 mph throughout the inning, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said.
“I think three pitches at 99, two at 98 and pretty much sat at 97, ” Ausmus said. “He threw a couple curveballs and one change-up. The change-up was hit for a double.”
Gose will stay in Lakeland, at least for the short term, as he clears developmental hurdles.
“He’s going to have to go back-to-back (days) at some point. He’s probably going to have to go multiple innings at some point, ” Ausmus said. “We just don’t know how his arm’s going to respond. He’ll be in Lakeland for a little bit. Depending on how he handles it and performs that will determine the length of time he’s there and whether he moves up.”
Ausmus said Gose’s developmental path will be accelerated because he’s 26 years old, so he wouldn’t necessarily have to make every stop on the organizational ladder before reaching the big leagues.
“But he still has to perform, ” Ausmus said. “The most important thing is that he’s throwing strikes.”
Tigers general manager Al Avila, appearing on 97.1 FM The Ticket Tuesday morning, said Gose’s velocity was “legitimate.”
“I think it would be a push to think he would be in Detroit at the end of the year, but you never know. Stranger things have happened, ” he told the station. “I would not put it out as an absolute no, because you never know.”
As for his assessment of Monday night, Avila said, “For the first outing, I thought it was outstanding.”
Tigers utility man Andrew Romine, who was Gose’s next-locker neighbor in the Tigers clubhouse for two seasons, said he wasn’t surprised by the news.
“He always wanted to pitch. He would talk about how hard he could throw and stuff like that, ” Romine said. “People are surprised because you get labeled as a position player and it’s like, ‘You mean he can pitch, too?’ It’s like with me. I go play the outfield and people are shocked that I can play outfield.”
In fact, every big-league clubhouse contains plenty of guys who excelled as both a batter and pitcher in high school. At some point, they had to pick one or the other.
Gose chose the outfield, but he never fully let go of the idea of pitching.
It helps, of course, when you throw left-handed and can approach 100 mph.
That alone doesn’t guarantee a job, but it’s a nice start.
“There’s a boatload of guys that are in the minor leagues that throw hard, ” Romine said. “Time will tell. He has a chance, absolutely. You can’t deny that a guy who throws 100 mph is good.”
