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Has Anthony Gose turned a corner?

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Anthony Gose
Anthony Gose
Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports

Over at Fangraphs yesterday, Jeff Sullivan wrote about Detroit Tigers outfielder Anthony Gose, who is off to a fine start so far in 2015. Through five games and 23 at-bats he is hitting .391 with a .696 slugging percentage. Of course, we are talking 23 at-bats and Gose's old weakness with contact/plate discipline is still evident, at least according to his zero-9 BB/K ratio.

Sullivan analyzes Gose' s swing, with a nice video breakdown, noting that:

There’s a sense that Gose is keeping his weight back longer. And he’s swinging with a more upward plane. You can tell from the way that he finishes — he comes aggressively around his right shoulder. His bat isn’t sweeping so much as it’s slashing, if that makes sense. He’s finishing higher, because he’s swinging higher, because he doesn’t want to limit his own power anymore.

Sullivan knows a lot more about swing mechanics than I do. Gose is one of the more interesting players around on an observational basis. I first got a good look at him back in the 2012 Futures Game in Kansas City then got to see more of him as he came through the PCL while playing in the Jays system. He always stood out most for his defense; his arm and range are quite good. His offensive numbers have never been very good and he's the type of guy who looks better in batting practice than in live games.

All that said, he is still just 24 years old. The tools are there and effort hasn't been an issue. He comes across as very bright and very motivated. It is dangerous to conclude anything based on five games of data, of course, and I would not expect Gose to be hitting over .300 five months from now. But it would not surprise me to see him hit .260 with enough doubles and steals to keep himself in the lineup combined with his defense.

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