The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Intriguing Gose makes Indians’ taxi squad
Major League Baseball, still concerned and vigilant about the novel coronavirus forcing games to be postponed, are allowing teams to carry a fiveman taxi squad for road trips in 2021.
Manager Terry Francona on March 30 announced outfielder Harold Ramirez, infielder Ernie Clement, catcher Ryan Lavarnway plus pitchers Anthony Gose and Kyle Nelson will start the season on the Indians’ taxi squad.
Having five extra players accompany teams on the road makes it easier to find a replacement if one of the players on the 26-man roster tests positive for COVD-19 or experienced an unrelated injury.
Players on the taxi squad must follow the same COVID-19 protocols as players on the active roster. They can work out on the field before a game, but they cannot be in the dugout or bullpen once the game begins.
Gose is intriguing.
He is a 30-year-old converted center fielder trying to make a comeback as a pitcher. He hasn’t played in the Major Leagues since 2016 when he hit .209 playing for the Tigers in 30 games.
“We’re extremely excited about what he’s going to do,” Francona said on Zoom. “We were pretty open with him because he ran out of his options as a hitter, now when we bring him to the major leagues, he’s got to stay. We know at some point we’re going to have to make that call, but we wanted to try and give ourselves the best chance to keep him.
“Because with a guy like that, it’s probably not fair to think there’s not going to be a hiccup or two. But we didn’t want to get in a position where something happened the first week or 10 days of the season that we didn’t have any flexibility and we had to let somebody go that we desperately don’t want to. We see Anthony really helping us.”
Gose is more than just a feel-good story. He played in 372 games with the Blue Jays and Tigers from 201216. His conversion to pitcher began in 2017. The 6-foot, 200-pound lefty appeared in 32 games in the Indians’ farm system with High-A Lynchburg and Double-A Akron in 2019 and posted a 2.48 ERA.
Like many players in his situation, Gose’s development was stunted in 2020 because there was no minorleague baseball because of the pandemic. Gose could hit 100 mph on the radar gun, but the ball didn’t always go to the desired location. But that and the rest of what it takes to be a pitcher in the big leagues is improving.
“We’re seeing progress in all areas,” Francona said. “Even though we want him to work on his strike percentage, and we told him that, he followed the glove much better this spring than he did before.
“There was one game that he had a really tough game. Other than that, even though his strike-to-ball ration wasn’t off the charts, he still was following the glove and his misses were a heck of a lot closer. Yeah, he looks more like a pitcher. Bringing the slider into his arsenal, it’s given him a pitch he can throw for a strike but maybe also put a hitter away with. I think that gives him some comfort, too.”
Gose pitched a total of six innings in seven Cactus League games this spring. He gave up six earned runs but did not allow a home run.