Francys Romero announced on Wednesday morning that the Jays have signed Cuban catcher Luis Gómez to a minor league contract. It’s important to note that Romero eventually acknowledged his error and stated there had been no incentive signing.
Romero mentions that Gómez plays with Yariel Rodríguez in Cuba with the Ganaderos de Camaguey and that he is an excellent defensive player. From 2015 until 2020, the battery was together for five seasons.
Gómez had a career-year in the previous season, slashing.288/.349/.374 in 155 plate appearances with seven doubles and a home run. In addition, he posted a 9.7 K% and an 8.4 BB%. Throughout his career, he has slashed.246/.318/.341, with 40 strikeouts in 77 plate appearances and eight home runs in 531 plate appearances.
It’s interesting to note that he slashed half of his home homers in a single season.During the 2020–21 season, he hit 259/.333/.383 with four home runs in 187 plate appearances. His K% was 14.4%, which isn’t particularly high but does represent a significant drop from his 2020–21 and 2022–23 seasons.
It’s also important to remember that, according to Baseball Reference, Gómez only appeared at catcher in 17 of his 47 games during his final season in Cuba. He played 23 games at third base and two more at first base, where he spent the most of his playing time.
Gómez is most likely going to become the backstop for Triple-A Buffalo. They have four catchers on the roster: Brian Serven, Max McDowell, Jose Ferrer, and Payton Henry, according to their roster page. But Ferrer is a potential who was called up late in the season, while McDowell played his final games for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
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