Drafted in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft from Bellflower, California, Anthony Gose burst onto the scene in 2009, stealing 76 bases and playing exceptional defense in centerfield, helping to lead the BlueClaws to the 2009 South Atlantic League championship.

We had a chance to talk with Gose last week, and below is part two (click here for part one) of our exclusive Q&A:

• 76 stolen bases this year. The secret ingredient? I honestly don’t even know. We worked at it. Maury Wills worked me out in the offseason. Some is natural instinct, trial and error. That’s what spring training and instructional league is for. Who can you run on. Who can’t you run on? Bobby Meachem worked with me on that too throughout the year and in the spring. You just try to pick up little things here and there.
• Working with Maury Wills…It was great. He didn’t just teach you the physical part, but also the mental part. It’s truly an honor. You could say he’s a legend in baseball for what he did and when he played. He knows what it’s like to be in the minors. He talked to us about that, and staying positive. He worked with me a great deal on the physical, but also on the mental part of the game

• What are you looking to do this year? I’d like to raise my on-base percentage and batting average so I’d like to steal 100 bases.
• How important is working counts for you to reach those goals? I’m learning very quickly that it’s a great deal of the game. I never walked that much in my life. I was always a free swinger. I’m trying to calm myself down and work a count and get on base. It’s a big part of my game. More opportunities to steal bases if you get on more.
• It looks like you’ll be back with Dusty Wathan again this year with Clearwater. Happy about that? O yea. I told everyone that Dusty, (Greg) Legg, and (Bob) Milacki made last year the best year of baseball in my whole life. The way they went about the game, teaching us, working with us, but keeping it fun. I told everyone he’s a big league manager. He’s a great guy, he gets across to his players, but he makes you want to play for him and play hard.
• Why do you think he was able to reach everyone so easily? He kept us motivated and loose at the same time. He laughs and jokes. He was serious but he got the point across. We were a fairly young team, but with him it was like a manager/friend relationship. We all respected him as manager, but we could talk about anything to him as a friend. Everyone was real comfortable with everybody. We gelled and we were a team.
• Looking forward to getting that ring? Definitely. I’ve been bragging about that ring to everyone. Can’t wait.

Share This Post!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 5:45 pm and is filed under 2009 BlueClaws, Past BlueClaws, Q&As. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.