Anthony Gose’s path through the Royals’ bullpen has already taken an unusual turn, and the results have been hard to ignore.
The latest chapter came on Aug. 29 at Progressive Field, where the former Guardians reliever stepped out of the bullpen door and into a different role than he’d ever had there before. Gose had already pitched 16 times at the stadium, but this was his first appearance there as a visitor, and he was wearing Royals blue. With Royals starter Daniel Lynch IV lasting only 3 1/3 innings, Gose was handed cleanup duty and answered with 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his first win since his Cleveland days in 2022.
What made that outing stand out even more was the way he did it: no strikeouts, just efficient, damage-free work. And that wasn’t a one-off. Gose has now thrown 5 1/3 scoreless innings this season without recording a strikeout.
That kind of line usually raises eyebrows, but Gose has backed it up with results. Even in a tiny sample that doesn’t qualify him for Baseball Savant leaderboards, he’d still sit in or near the top percentile in expected ERA at 2.77, average exit velocity at 84.7 miles per hour, chase rate at 40% and hard-hit rate at 11%.
He hasn’t been missing bats in the way most teams want from a reliever, but he has been preventing damage at a level that looks more like a high-end bullpen arm. Through five appearances, he has allowed just four baserunners.
His most recent trip to the mound, against the Blue Jays over the weekend, was the first time he gave up more than one baserunner in a game. Even then, he worked out of part of the trouble with a double play before being pulled after his second baserunner reached.
For the Royals, the move to bring him up fits the moment. They don’t have much to lose as they play out the string, and Gose has at least done enough to put himself in the conversation for a roster spot down the line. He may not be the answer at closer, but his work so far has been strong enough to make a case for 2027.
The formula has been simple enough: a fastball around 95 miles per hour that he’s used 71.6% of the time, plus some sliders and a new changeup mixed in around it. So far, it’s been enough to keep hitters off balance and keep runs off the board.
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