Anthony Gose Elects Free Agency

August 30: Cleveland announced Friday that Gose cleared waivers and again elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment.

August 28: The Guardians announced Wednesday that they’ve designated left-hander Anthony Gose for assignment. It’s rather incredibly the third DFA of the month for Gose, who has twice cleared waivers and returned to the organization (the second time after very briefly electing free agency). His spot on the roster will go to fellow left-hander Erik Sabrowski, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Columbus. Sabrowski is now in line to make his major league debut the first time he takes the mound for Cleveland.

Gose, 34, pitched two innings in last night’s loss to the Royals, allowing a run four hits with one strikeout. The outfielder-turned-reliever has pitched 3 1/3 big league frames this season and allowed three runs. He’s spent the bulk of the season pitching for Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, where he’s logged 39 innings with a solid 3.46 ERA, a huge 32.9% strikeout rate and a problematic 15% walk rate.

The 2024 season is Gose’s first year back from a Tommy John procedure that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign. A former second-round pick who ranked as one of the top prospects in the game during his days as a center fielder, he’s still looking to establish himself as a viable big league option in the bullpen. Gose has pitched 31 innings in the majors since making the switch to the mound and recorded a 4.35 ERA with big strikeout numbers (29.5%) and also big walk issues (12.9%).

A two-way star in high school who had some draft interest as a pitcher, Gose was brandishing a fastball that averaged 99.3 mph when he made his mound debut in 2021. He’s since undergone elbow surgery and seen that average heater dip to 95.2 mph — still a well above-average mark (particularly for a lefty), but not the same type of overpowering offering it was a few years back. Gose is still piling up strikeouts in Triple-A, but the command of his fastball/slider combination is a work in progress.

Gose will once again head to the waiver wire now that he’s been designated for assignment. He has the right to reject an outright in favor of free agency, but at this point of the season there’s a good chance he’d just re-sign with Cleveland and head back to Columbus anyhow, as he did following his previous DFA.

As for Sabrowski, this is his first call to the big leagues. The 6’4″, 230-pound southpaw was a 14th-round pick by the Padres in 2018 who came to the Guardians organization by way of the Rule 5 Draft’s minor league phase in 2021. Although he’s a 2018 draftee, he’s only pitched in parts of three professional seasons, thanks to the canceled 2020 minor league campaign and a pair of Tommy John surgeries that both cost him at least a full season. He has just 99 1/3 professional innings under his belt at this point.

Even with that minimal workload, Sabrowski has been impressive with the Guardians since returning from his most recent elbow surgery. Like Gose, he’s posted huge strikeout numbers but also bloated walk rates. His 2023 season saw Sabrowski log 21 2/3 frames with a 2.49 ERA in Double-A. He punched out 30.4% of his opponents but also walked 19.6% of the batters he faced.

Sabrowski opened the 2024 season back at Double-A and notched a pristine 0.77 ERA in 11 2/3 innings there, fanning a comical 54.2% of his opponents against a vastly improved 4.2% walk rate. Since being promoted to Triple-A, he’s logged a 4.38 ERA in 37 innings while recording a 31.2% strikeout rate against a once-again troublesome 17.6% walk rate. He’ll need to improve that command in order to find sustained success in the majors, but there’s little doubting Sabrowski’s ability to miss bats in droves. For now, he gives Cleveland skipper Stephen Vogt a fresh arm as the Guards look to fend off a surging Royals club in the AL Central, with the Twins only 2.5 games behind as well.