Whicker: Ex-Jays outfielder Gose now an unlikely Royals reliever
Former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Gose is now a 35-year-old relief pitcher with the Kansas City Royals. Photo: 700 WLW Sports Talk/Facebook
September 10, 2026
By Mark Whicker
Canadian Baseball Network
You get to a certain age and you accept how time speeds up.
We can handle that Keith Tkachuk’s sons won hockey gold medals for the U.S., that Tiger Woods has a son who’s in college, that Carlos Boozer’s kid might be the NBA Rookie of the Year. So it was not startling to see that Anthony Gose was in a Kansas City Royals’ boxscore the other day, which is not unlike being in a witness protection program. How nice to see that the former major league outfielder has a son who has made it. Oops, hold on. That’s actually the old man, still sitting in a hot bullpen for a cold franchise.
Through Wednesday, Gose had worked seven games for Kansas City and given up one earned run. He also had walked one batter in 7 1/3 innings, which had been his obstacle. He is 35 and still throws hard, and he is left-handed. If he continues to do that and remains healthy, he is likely to be pitching for someone when he’s 36.
But wasn’t there an Anthony Gose who was an outfielder?
Yep. Gose put in three years with Toronto and two more with Detroit, hitting .240 with 271 hits and 12 home runs. In his only full-time shot, Gose struck out 145 times in 140 games with the Tigers in 2015, but he had 24 doubles and stole 23 bases. He’s played his way through Tommy John surgery, a dustup with a minor league manager, and the most radical position change you can make. That might be why Gose, at age five, was practicing his major league autograph, and why, in high school, he was asked if he was a fan of any particular player and replied, “I just idolize Anthony Gose.” But he’s also a baseball fan, clearly. You have to be a little obsessed to work through this many chapters without a Hollywood ending in sight.
Gose was drafted in 2008. That was the draft that featured Tim Beckham going first to Tampa Bay and Pedro Alvarez going second to the Pirates. The unquestioned gold nugget was Buster Posey, to San Francisco at No. 5. Gerrit Cole was taken by the Yankees at No. 28 but went to UCLA instead.
Later in the draft came Craig Kimbrel, Nathan Eovaldi and Marcus Semien. And Gose, who was pick No. 51 by the Phillies. They gave him $772,000 and were pleased at the way he ran down fly balls and hit doubles off the wall. Gose led the entire minor leagues with 76 steals in 2009, The Phillies pursued Roy Halladay when the ace right-hander told the Blue Jays he preferred to leave, but Toronto wouldn’t finish the discussions with the Phillies until they included Gose.
Then Philly sent Gose to Houston in a deal that brought Roy Oswalt. Toronto picked up first baseman Brett Wallace from Oakland and immediately shipped him to Houston for Gose.
The scouts, of course, knew how hard Gose could throw. At Bellflower High near Los Angeles, he hit 97 on the gun. He told everyone who would listen that he had a “curveball from hell.” But Gose wasn’t interested in throwing it. After he told several teams that he wasn’t going to pitch, they finally believed him, and Gose began sliding down the draft boards. Some thought he would have made a million had he been open to doing both.
The main problem was hyperactivity. Gose didn’t like the empty innings in the dugout, and he antagonized teammate and opponents alike. But when he couldn’t make enough contact in the pros to make himself an outfield candidate, the Tigers outlined a pitching program for him.
While at triple-A Toledo, Gose had a shouting match with manager Lloyd McClendon and left the club. The next year, at Single-A Lakeland, Gose finally accepted life on the mound.
The hellish curveball was shelved in 2021, and Gose went with fastballs and sliders. That was the last year his fastball averaged 99 mph. Now it approaches 96, but a 93 mph cutter, which the Royals introduced, has become a weapon. Really, Gose’s biggest enemy has been the pentagon of black tape that defines the plate. In his minor league career, he walked 6.6 batters per nine innings.
Detroit cut him loose after the 2017 season. Texas signed him but Gose again promised he would never climb the mound. The Rangers made him available in the Rule V draft and Houston took him for the second time, knowing that it would have to keep him on the roster or lose him. The Astros lost him, willingly, the next March.
Another club that was desperate for bodies called Gose in 2021. That was the U.S. Olympic team. Gose signed up, managed 5 1/3 innings with one hit and one walk, and the Americans won a silver medal, and Gose began getting phone calls again. He spent three on-again, off-again years in Cleveland trying to implant himself as a pitcher. But 2025 would have been a good year to contemplate a more stable career. The Mets had him for half the year in their system and released him, and Arizona signed him in mid-July, put him in triple-A Reno and also released him in two weeks. Yet he signed a minor league deal with the Royals in 2026 spring training, began the year in Omaha, and appears to be finishing with a rush.
In future months you will hear the owners say the players don’t really want to play, aren’t really opposed to a work stoppage, and don’t care about the fans who Pay Their Salaries. The owners will try to blame such a stoppage on the players, and a good hunk of civilians will agree. Nobody will ask Anthony Gose, who will be yearning for yet another spring training.
He’ll be competing against players 15 years younger. He’ll be trying to nudge the witching hour just a little further down the line. For men like that, it is possible to love the game without loving the sport.