Gose on fire after adjusting stance - London Free Press

Anthony Gose has been on fire with the Las Vegas 51s after adjusting his batting stance. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)

Anthony Gose owned a .216 batting average on the morning of Sunday, April 22.

He had 11 walks and 33 strikeouts in 113 plate appearances â€" not the numbers prospects should carry out of major-league camp.

Vegas hitting instructor Chad Mottola suggested changing Gose’s batting stance.

“I had some mechanical flaws coming out of the spring,” said Gose from New Orleans Tuesday afternoon. “Chad thought by widening my stance, I’d slow down more and have a controlled load. This is a simpler application. I had too much movement in my swing.”

Heading into Tuesday’s game, Gose and his new stance went hitless, 0-for-4 in a 5-2 loss to New Orleans, as Gose drove in one of the 51s’ runs.

Travis Snider homered, giving him one hit in his previous 18 at-bats. 

After hitting .216 (22-for-102) with three doubles, two triples and nine RBIs pre-change, Gose raised his average to .281 (16-for-57) with a triple, three homers and 13 RBIs. He’s drawn seven walks and fanned 12 times.

A year ago, Gose had a narrow stance when he hit .253 with 16 homers, 59 RBIs and a .763 OPS at double-A New Hampshire. 

“When we started, we weren’t sure that this would be the finished product,” said Gose. “This stance is easier to control, easier to make adjustments. It’s enabled me to see the ball, go deeper into counts and barrel up the ball better than I was.”

“We’ve got himself centred now,” said manager Marty Brown. “What we did to his stance isn’t anything that drastic.” 

The results have been drastic.

On May 1, Vegas was 10-16, then won 10 of the next 12 before Tuesday’s loss. 

Jesse Chavez is the top performer in the league with wins (five), strikeouts (47) and innings pitched (48). He is currently ranked No. 1 in the league for batting average against (.171).

Two of the reasons have been Chavez and Gose.

JINX IN TOWN

General manager Alex Anthopoulos arrived in Lansing, Mich., on Thursday to see Justin Nicolino and Aaron Sanchez in action. Nicolino, 20, and Sanchez, 19, came into the game against Bowling Green Hot Rods after combining for 38 scoreless innings.

Nicolino, who started the game, gave up three earned runs in four innings. Sanchez relieved in the fifth inning, hitting 98 MPH on the radar gun, and was touched for two earned runs in four innings.

Sanchez’s ERA is now 0.78, Nicolino’s 1.17. 

PILLAR OF POWER

Outfielder Kevin Pillar, a 2011 32nd-round draft pick from West Hills, Calif., earned  Midwest League player of the week honours after hitting .579 (15-for-28) in six games with two doubles, a triple, a homer and 12 RBIs. Included in his numbers was a 6-for-6 day as Lansing scored a 16-4 romp over Dayton on Saturday. The last Lansing player to collect six hits in a game was Franklin German in 1999. Pillar had three hits last Tuesday, a 7-6 loss to West Michigan, and three more on Friday, a 7-3 win over Bowling Green, before Saturday’s offensive explosion, which included his first homer of the season. 

Lansing also turned a triple play Monday night in a 4-2 win over Dayton. Juan Perez reached on an error by shortstop Shane Opitz and Brantford’s Brandon Dailey walked. 

Ryan Wright popped up a bunt attempt which catcher Carlos Perez caught and fired to second baseman Jonathon Berti who then relayed to first baseman K.C. Hobson for a triple play.

POWER RANKINGS

A rival evaluator’s look

at the top five prospects

in the Blue Jays system:

Jake Marisnick

(.258, 3 HR, 21 RBIs, .791 OPS, 5 SB at Dunedin)

“He has a chance to become a complete player, he’s 21 and he’s in the Florida State League. All of our scouts rave about him.” 

Travis d’Arnaud

(.396, 5 HR, 26 RBIs, .962 OPS at Vegas) “Everyone says he’s the best of a good lot. Not for me. He’s stubbed his toe a little, he was injured. I’ve seen him better than I’ve seen him this season. But let me say this ... we’d still take him.”

Anthony Gose

(.245, 3 HR, 21 RBIs, .687 OPS, 14-for-17 stealing bases at Vegas)

“He could be one of the most exciting players in the game. He’s an electric runner and he could make Brett Lawrie look shy and retiring, that’s how much confidence he has.” 

Noah Syndergaard

(3-0, 2.19, 35 Ks in 24.2 innings at Lansing)

“Another good young guy at age 19. We thought he was a tough sign, they got it done. In some organizations, he’s be No. 1 over-all.”

Aaron Sanchez

4-0, 0.78, 28 Ks in 23 innings at Lansing).

“He’s another guy I like. The funny thing is all five are high school drafts. I tip my cap to the new administration. This proves that the new GM used to be a scout, while the old one read a book.”

DOWN ON THE FARM

Mike McDade’s and Ryan Goins’ respective batting averages put them at sixth (.339) and seventh (.336) in the Eastern League. Goins finds himself fourth in the league for hits (45) and McDade fifth (43). Also among the leaders in New Hampshire is Mark Sobolewski, who is second in the league for homers ... Dunedin holds first place in the Northern Division of the Florida State League thanks to John Talley, third in batting average (.348) and first in on-base percentage (.459). Kevin Nolan is third in hits (46) and runs scored (27). Nolan’s batting average (.317) has him sixth overall. Dunedin scored a 4-3 win over Clearwater in 11 innings as former No. 1 pick Kevin Ahrens went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs ... Lansing’s Chris Hawkins leads the league with a .331 average ... Chad Beck has six saves at Vegas, allowing two runs in 15.1 innings for a 1.15 ERA. Ryota Igarashi has a 1.13 ERA and has allowed seven hits in 16 innings.