The Royals announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of lefty Anthony Gose from Triple-A Omaha. Kansas City also recalled infielder Josh Rojas. Feellow infielder Michael Massey heads to the seven-day concussion list, while righty Mason Black was optioned to Omaha.
Gose, 36, hasn’t pitched in the majors since a brief run with the 2024 Guardians. Cleveland is the only team for which Gose has pitched at the major league level, but he spent parts of five seasons in the majors as an outfielder with the Blue Jays and Tigers from 2012-16.
A two-way standout in high school, Gose was a second-round pick by the Phillies in 2008. He spent several years as a top-100 prospect during his outfield days, all while bouncing from Philadelphia to Houston to Toronto to Detroit in a series of trades (the first of which sent star right-hander Roy Oswalt from the Astros to the Phils). Gose never caught on as an outfielder, however. He hit just .240/.309/.348 in 1252 major league plate appearances.
In 2017, Gose returned to the mound, beginning a transition back to a pitcher after his outfield career had begun to sputter. He’s pitched in the minors with Detroit, Texas, Cleveland, Arizona and New York (Mets), but until now the Guardians were the lone club to have brought him to the majors as a pitcher — which they’ve done in three seasons (2021, 2022, 2024).
Gose has pitched a total of 32 major league frames, showing huge velocity and bat-missing ability but shaky command. In his limited MLB work on the mound, he’s posted a 4.78 ERA, fanned 29.7% of his opponents and issued walks at a 12.3% clip. Gose reached the majors as a reliever in 2021, brandishing a fastball that averaged a blistering 99.3 mph. He was down to a 97 mph average the following season and wound up requiring Tommy John surgery in Sept. 2022. He returned to the majors with the Guards in 2024 but was tagged for five runs in 4 1/3 innings with a heater that sat 95.7 mph.
The Royals signed Gose to a minor league deal in late April. He’s spent the bulk of the season pitching out of the bullpen over in Omaha. Through 46 innings of Triple-A relief, he’s worked to a 4.89 ERA with a strong 27.6% strikeout rate but an ugly 13.8% walk rate. His heater is nowhere close to its peak levels, averaging 94.7 mph this season, but Gose is still sporting a hearty 12.7% swinging-strike rate. He’s been on a particularly solid run over the past couple months: 23 2/3 innings, 3.04 ERA, 31.1% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate.
Prior to bringing Gose to the majors, the Royals had just one lefty in the big league bullpen: journeyman Connor Thomas, who’s been torched for 15 runs in 10 1/3 innings between Atlanta and Kansas City this season. Thomas has tossed four shutout innings as a Royal, but his track record is minimal. That’s largely true of Gose, too, but skipper Matt Quatraro will at least have multiple southpaws at his disposal for the time being. Gose is out of minor league options, so if the Royals want to send him back down at any point or swap him out for a different arm, he’ll need to be designated for assignment.
