Last year, when the Toronto Blue Jays traded first-baseman, Brett Wallace, to the Houston Astros for outfielder, Anthony Gose, many wondered what the Blue Jays received. While Gose was described as a solid outfielder with a high-quality arm, excellent range, and ridiculous speed, many questioned if he could hit for average and if he could hit for power.
In his first full season in Toronto’s system he has answered the power question, by increasing his home run total for the third straight year; in fact, this season he has already hit 11 home runs, the latest coming last night. To go along with his 11 homers he has also hit 17 doubles and 6 triples for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Unfortunately, his average, however, has remained around the .250 mark, comparable to the rest of his career in the minor leagues.
Making up for his inconsistency at the plate, is his consistency in the field. His fielding has been phenomenal in 2011, committing only 2 errors in 258 chances, giving him a .992 fielding percentage. 9-time gold glove award winner Torii Hunter has a .993 career fielding percentage, only one thousandth of a percent better than the 20 year old prospect.
While Anthony Gose takes a lot of walks (55 so far), he strikes out more than double that amount by doing so 113 times, which is almost 25% of his plate appearances. When Gose doesn’t strike out and he puts the ball in play, he is batting .335, nearly 80 points higher than his regular average. This average is much higher due to his incredible speed, as he is able to beat out plenty of grounders, and reach base via infield hits.
Another stat that makes him such a useful player is his on base percentage which currently stands at .355. What makes him an even bigger threat is that when he does get on base, his speed becomes one of his greatest assets. Gose has already surpassed all expectations by stealing 50 bases in 65 attempts this season. To make this even more impressive, he has stolen 50 bases, yet has only had the opportunity to steal152 times, thus indicating that he is stealing a base almost a third of the time.
While his speed is a huge advantage for Gose, the young player still needs to focus on when to run and when not to. Members from the Blue Jays’ organization have announced that if he does not improve his base running IQ, he will not be in the majors anytime soon. That being said, if he does improve in that category then there is no doubt that he will be able to lead the league in the future in stolen bases. In fact, he is currently on pace to lead his league in stolen bases for the third straight year.
If Gose does improve his wild swinging ways, and continues his growth in power numbers, and works on learning the right opportunity to steal, then there is no question that by the time he makes it to the Majors, people will be mentioning 5-tools next to Anthony Gose’s name.
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