Former Yankees Top Prospect and catcher Antonio Gomez has gone from being a Yankees catching prospect in their farm system to now an imposing figure on the mound as a reliever.
Gomez (age 24) originally signed with the Yankees out of Venezuela as a catcher at the age of 19 back in 2018. Through 339 games in the minor leagues, Gomez hit for a .240 career batting average with 23 home runs and a .679 OPS. Gomez was regarded as the Yankees’ 19th-best prospect before the beginning of the 2022 season.
Gomez Was Once A Well Regarded Yankees Catching Prospect
But since joining professional baseball in 2019, it’s been a struggle consistency-wise for Gomez as a full-time catcher. It wasn’t until June of 2025 that Gomez made the switch from catcher to pitcher with the Somerset Patriots, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate. He had a stint on the “Developmental List” to undergo a throwing program, per MLB.com.
Gomez reportedly re-signed with the Yankees last November when his contract was up, and is now eager to give pitching in professional baseball full time, with the hope that this time it’s a different, yet much better, outcome for him, trajectory-wise. Gomez made his first appearance of the 2026 season, in which he pitched one inning, allowing one hit and striking out two batters with Low-A Tampa in Clearwater vs the Phillies low A affiliate. Gomez hadn’t appeared in a game up until this point of the season due to beginning the 2026 campaign on the 60 day injured list, per MLB.com.
Gomez threw a fastball that reached 99.9 mph, and reportedly either hit or just narrowly approached 100 mph on the radar gun five times in last night’s outing, per MLB.com. It’s also been reported that Gomez threw a high 80s cutter measuring out at 88.6 mph, which generated a swing and miss, according to MLB.com. Gomez made a few appearances last year for Low A Tampa, but it didn’t go very well. Through 4 games (2.2 innings pitched), Gomez allowed six runs on six hits and an opponent batting average of .429 against him. Gomez’s first start in 2026 went much more smoothly than the first several last year, in which this latest start had him throwing just 15 pitches altogether, along with two strikeouts and just one hit allowed.
There’s Been Catcher To Pitcher Success Stories Before
While it’s not out of the ordinary for a catcher to find success on the mound, as it has been done in the past with players such as Kenley Jansen, it’s still impressive nonetheless to make the switch and find any success. Gomez stands at 6’2 239 lbs, so he certainly has the build/size to become an effective pitcher potentially one day. Gomez reached as high as Double-A Somerset last year when he was still a catcher in the Yankees farm system. His last season as a catcher had him posting a .140 batting average with a .393 OPS in Double-A Somerset, which came after a promotion from High A Hudson Valley, where he started the year off great, hitting for a .316 batting average with 2 home runs and a .982 OPS in his first six games that season. But the remaining 35 games he would follow suit with in Double-A were a struggle.
However, he’ll be looking to get much further now with his new role in the organization, and possibly one day, maybe be one of the few success stories of a catcher who transitioned to a pitcher. With a fastball approaching triple digits and his still relatively young age, Gomez will be a name to follow in the Yankees farm system depth charts for the months and years ahead.
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