Former Yankees High Prospect and catcher Antonio Gomez has gone from being a Yankees catching prospect of their farm system to now an imposing determine on the mound as a reliever.
Gomez (age 24) initially signed with the Yankees out of Venezuela as a catcher on the age of 19 again in 2018. By means of 339 video games within the minor leagues, Gomez hit for a .240 profession batting common with 23 house runs and a .679 OPS. Gomez was thought to be the Yankees’ Nineteenth-best prospect earlier than the start of the 2022 season.
Gomez Was As soon as A Effectively Regarded Yankees Catching Prospect
However since becoming a member of skilled baseball in 2019, it’s been a wrestle consistency-wise for Gomez as a full-time catcher. It wasn’t till June of 2025 that Gomez made the swap from catcher to pitcher with the Somerset Patriots, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate. He had a stint on the “Developmental Checklist” to endure a throwing program, per MLB.com.
Gomez reportedly re-signed with the Yankees final November when his contract was up, and is now keen to present pitching in skilled baseball full time, with the hope that this time it’s a special, but significantly better, consequence for him, trajectory-wise. Gomez made his first look of the 2026 season, by which he pitched one inning, permitting one hit and hanging out two batters with Low-A Tampa in Clearwater vs the Phillies low A affiliate. Gomez hadn’t appeared in a sport up till this level of the season attributable to starting the 2026 marketing campaign on the 60 day injured checklist, per MLB.com.
Gomez threw a fastball that reached 99.9 mph, and reportedly both hit or simply narrowly approached 100 mph on the radar gun 5 occasions in final night time’s outing, per MLB.com. It’s additionally been reported that Gomez threw a excessive 80s cutter measuring out at 88.6 mph, which generated a swing and miss, in line with MLB.com. Gomez made a number of appearances final yr for Low A Tampa, but it surely didn’t go very nicely. By means of 4 video games (2.2 innings pitched), Gomez allowed six runs on six hits and an opponent batting common of .429 towards him. Gomez’s first begin in 2026 went rather more easily than the primary a number of final yr, by which this newest begin had him throwing simply 15 pitches altogether, together with two strikeouts and only one hit allowed.
There’s Been Catcher To Pitcher Success Tales Earlier than
Whereas it’s not out of the atypical for a catcher to seek out success on the mound, because it has been performed previously with gamers akin to Kenley Jansen, it’s nonetheless spectacular nonetheless to make the swap and discover any success. Gomez stands at 6’2 239 lbs, so he definitely has the construct/measurement to turn into an efficient pitcher probably in the future. Gomez reached as excessive as Double-A Somerset final yr when he was nonetheless a catcher within the Yankees farm system. His final season as a catcher had him posting a .140 batting common with a .393 OPS in Double-A Somerset, which got here after a promotion from Excessive A Hudson Valley, the place he began the yr off nice, hitting for a .316 batting common with 2 house runs and a .982 OPS in his first six video games that season. However the remaining 35 video games he would observe swimsuit with in Double-A had been a wrestle.
Nevertheless, he’ll be trying to get a lot additional now along with his new position within the group, and probably in the future, perhaps be one of many few success tales of a catcher who transitioned to a pitcher. With a fastball approaching triple digits and his nonetheless comparatively younger age, Gomez can be a reputation to observe within the Yankees farm system depth charts for the months and years forward.
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