Carlos Gómez

[Michael Trzinski]

Carlos Argelis Gómez was born in 1985 in Santiago, Dominican Republic. While a student at Ana FA Jimenez School, he was scouted and signed by the New York Mets at the tender age of 16. Gómez finished school, played with two different teams in 2004 at the Rookie level, and had a combined hitting line of .281/.324/.407 across 221 ABs.

Gómez was promoted to Hagerstown (Maryland) in the Class A South Atlantic League the following season. The speedy outfielder slashed .275/.331/.376 across 487 at-bats and pilfered a league-leading 64 bases.

In 2006, Gómez moved up to Double-A Binghampton (New York) in the Eastern League, where he had a batting line of .281/.350/.423 in 430 at-bats. His eight triples were tied for fourth in the league, while his 41 steals ranked in a tie for second. Gómez and Michael Abreu were co-winners of the 2006 Sterling Award at Double-A, presented to the team MVP at each level in the Mets organization. Gómez played in the Dominican Winter League and would do so for the next six years through the 2011-12 season.

Gómez started the 2007 season at Single-A Advanced Port St. Lucie (Florida) in the Florida State League but moved up quickly to Triple-A New Orleans in the Pacific Coast League. Gómez was batting .286/.363/.414 with 17 stolen bases in just 36 games when he got called up to the Mets. He made his big-league debut on May 13 against Milwaukee and didn’t disappoint, going 2-for-4 with a double, steal, and two runs scored. Gómez was hit by a pitch on July 4 and missed nine weeks with a broken hand. He came back in September and finished 2-for-17 in limited play. His season batting line read .232/.288/.304 with 12 steals in 58 games.

In February 2008, he was traded with three other players to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher Johan Santana. That season, Gómez had 33 steals in 153 games for the Twins, a number that ranked seventh in the AL. He slumped in 2009, playing in 137 games but getting only 86 starts. His batting line was .229/.287/.337, with 14 steals across 315 ABs. In November, Gómez was traded to the Brewers for shortstop J.J. Hardy.

Gómez was limited to 97 games in 2010, as manager Ken Macha used a three-headed CF platoon of Gómez, Jim Edmonds, and Lorenzo Cain. In 2011, Gómez again split playing time with Nyjer Morgan, aka ‘Tony Plush.’ In two seasons, Gómez amassed only 522 ABs and 34 stolen bases, slashing .238/.288/.377.

The lack of playing time would end, as Gómez would accumulate 1,525 ABs over the next three years and make the NL All-Star team in 2013 and 2014. He added a Gold Glove to his trophy case in 2013. In that span, he stole 111 bases and slammed 66 home runs, reaching double digits (19-24-23) in that category for the first time in his MLB career.

On July 30, 2015—with the Brewers mired in fifth place in the NL Central—Gómez and pitcher Mike Fiers were involved in a blockbuster trade with Houston, who sent pitchers Josh Hader and Adrian Houser, plus outfielders Brett Phillips and Domingo Santana to Milwaukee. Gómez finished the season with a combined slash line of .255/.314/.409 with 17 stolen bases and 12 round-trippers across 435 ABs.

In 2016, Gómez was traded once again, this time to the Texas Rangers. As his career wound down, Gómez played for Texas, Tampa Bay, and the Mets over the next three years. Although his last MLB game was in 2019, he didn’t officially announce his retirement until September 2021.

In his 13-year career with six teams, Gómez had a slash mark of .252/.313/.411 with 268 steals and 145 home runs. Always a fan favorite at Miller Park, the fiery player known as ‘Go-Go’ never failed to entertain the audience.

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