For the second time in as many days, the Toronto Blue Jays have promoted an outfielder from their triple-A Buffalo affiliate.
Wednesday it was Kevin Pillar, and Thursday it’s Anthony Gose.
The Blue Jays recalled the 23-year-old from Buffalo, where he has been producing on the field following a slow start. Gose has collected hits in 18 of his last 22 games, and has been successful in his last 10 stolen base attempts.
“He’s playing better of late,” general manager Alex Anthopoulos said Wednesday. “The numbers still aren’t where he obviously wants them to be and where they can be, but his average is starting to come up a little bit — hard contact.”
For the season, Gose is hitting .240/.314/.337 with 22 stolen bases in 35 attempts.
“He’s still very young and the fact that he got up here so young makes the expectations a little bit greater and when they don’t perform immediately it seems like they’re around more than anybody else, but he’s still very talented,” Anthopoulos said. “Anthony has got plenty of development time left.”
Both Anthopoulos and manager John Gibbons suggested Gose would be among the top candidates to join the Blue Jays, who played with just three outfielders Wednesday.
“I’d think he’d probably be the guy,” Gibbons said.
Reliever Mickey Storey was optioned to triple-A Buffalo to make room for Gose on the roster.
