Former Guardians reliever is off to dominant (yet unconventional) start in the Royals’ bullpen 

On Aug. 29, Progressive Field’s bullpen door swung open and Anthony Gose ran out. 

Although Gose had previously made 16 pitching appearances at Progressive Field prior to that late August appearance, this one was a little different given he was pitching for the Royals, marking his first pitching appearance at the stadium as a visitor. 

After Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV only managed to go 3 1/3 innings, Gose was tasked with cleaning up the mess. And that he did, as he threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up his first win since he was with Cleveland in 2022. 

While that outing and win would be sweet no matter what, it came in an outing where he showed off how dangerous his arsenal can be, as his scoreless performance against the Guardians came on a day where he didn’t record a strikeout.

That outing was a precursor of what was to come for Gose, who has now recorded 5 1/3 scoreless innings this season despite not picking up a strikeout. 

Anthony Gose has been dominant for the Royals so far this season

Although it may be easy to assume that Gose’s dominance is unsustainable due to his lack of strikeouts, the exact opposite has been true. 

Gose doesn’t have enough innings to qualify for the Baseball Savant leaderboards (all of this comes with the small sample size caveat), but he’d rank in or near the top percentile in expected ERA (2.77), average exit velocity (84.7 miles per hour), chase rate (40%) and hard-hit rate (11%). 

He may not be generating the kind of swing-and-miss that teams covet in their bullpen, but he’s been able to do enough to get the kind of results that are usually reserved for the league’s best relievers. 

He’s allowed just four baserunners in his five appearances, and his most recent outing against the Blue Jays over the weekend was the first time he allowed multiple baserunners in one game, but he was able to negate one of them with a double play and was pulled after allowing his second baserunner. 

The Royals’ decision to call up Gose was a shrewd move at this juncture in the season given they don’t have much to lose as they play out the string. Gose may not be their closer of the future, but, at the very least, he’s done enough to earn a roster spot for 2027. 

He’s mostly been relying on his fastball that sits around 95 miles per hour (71.6% usage rate), though he’s also sprinkled in some sliders along with a new changeup. 

The Guardians may have helped turn Gose into the pitcher he is today, but the Royals are becoming a huge beneficiary from it.

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