The 24-year old switch hitter is listed as a catcher on the San Francisco Giants 40-man roster, despite not playing behind the dish in 2016. Gomez, who signed out of the Dominican Republic, has been an excellent hitter throughout his minor league career.
In his first three seasons from 2012-2014, Gomez played for the Giants’ Dominican Summer League team, where he hit a combined, .296 with 8 homeruns and 100 RBI and had an OBP of .356. Gomez made the jump from the rookie level to Short Season Class-A Salem-Keizer in 2015, where he hit .319 with 6 homeruns and 52 RBI. One noticeable difference with Gomez’s transition into Salem-Keizer was how few amount of walks he drew. In 2015 his OBP was only .331 despite having a batting average .319, due in large part to only drawing 5 walks in 276 at-bats.
2016 was a phenomenal year for Gomez across both Class-A Augusta, and higher Class-A San Jose. In 66 games for the Green Jackets, Gomez hit an incredible .371, had an OBP of .401, 26 doubles, 8 homeruns and 43 RBI. He was so impressive that he was called up to Class-A San Jose, and proceeded to hit .267 with an OBP of .302, 9 homeruns and 24 RBI.
Despite the drop off in average in San Jose, he impressed the organization enough to be placed on the 40-man roster. There is a possibility that even though Gomez has only amassed 43 games in San Jose, he may start the 2017 season in Double-A Richmond. Gomez is an extremely talented player with versatility defensively as evident by playing catcher, first base, and third base throughout his career thus far, and no matter what level he ultimately plays at in 2017, he is a prospect fans should keep an eye on.