Leo Gómez
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Leonardo Gómez Vélez (born March 2, 1966) is a Puerto Rican former professional
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
player who played in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
primarily as a
third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...
in 1990 to 1996. He also played in
Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...
from 1997 to 2002.


Career


Minor leagues

Gómez was signed by the
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...
in 1985 as an amateur free agent. He broke into professional baseball with the 1986
Bluefield Orioles Bluefield may refer to: * Bluefield, Virginia, US * Bluefield, West Virginia, US * Nvidia BlueField, a line of computer hardware See also * Bluefields, Nicaragua * Bluefields, Jamaica {{geodis ...
, batting .352/~.496/.693 in just 27 games. His average would have led the
Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...
had he played enough to qualify and despite missing over half the season, he still was only one home run behind the Bluefield leader. Even though Appy league managers got just a glance at Gómez, they rated him the #10 prospect in the circuit, tied with Gerónimo Peña. Leo moved up to the
Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...
in 1987. For the
Hagerstown Suns The Hagerstown Suns were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland. They were a member of the South Atlantic League and, from 2007 through 2020, were the Class A (baseball), Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They pl ...
, Gómez won the batting title with a line of .326/.440/.538 with 94 runs, 38 doubles, 19 homers, 110 RBI and 95 walks. He led the league in slugging percentage and doubles and tied Casey Webster for the RBI lead. Milt Harper edged him by five points for the OBP lead. In the Year of the Third Baseman in the Carolina League (according to ''
Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...
''), Gómez beat out Webster, Jeff King and
Hensley Meulens Hensley Filemon Acasio Meulens (; born June 23, 1967), nicknamed "Bam Bam", is a Curaçaoan professional baseball coach and former player. He most recently was the hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Meulens wa ...
for the All-Star spot at the hot corner, though Webster (who made the team at DH) won MVP honors and Meulens (who made the All-Stars as a utility man) was named top prospect. Gómez was picked as the second-best hope for the future. At age 22, Gómez moved up to the AA
Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field ...
but only played 24 games (presumably he was injured most of the season) and hit .292/.364/.382 with only one homer in 89 at-bats. His progress stunted, he returned to AA in 1989, returning to Hagerstown, which had moved up the ladder. The Puerto Rican infielder hit .281/.400/.467 with 18 homers and a league-high 89 walks. His 78 RBI ranked second, he was fifth in homers and presumably in the top five in slugging and OBP as well. He made the Eastern League All-Star team at third base, his second minor league All-Star team in his only two full seasons of play. Gómez spent most of the 1990 campaign with the
Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...
. Leo hit .277/~.408/.537 with 26 homers, 97 runs, 89 walks and 97 RBI. He led the
International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...
in runs and RBI, was one walk behind the league leader (
Jim Walewander Jim "Wales" Walewander (born May 2, 1962) is an American former professional baseball infielder. Walewander was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 9th round of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft. During his professional career, he played for ...
) and tied for second in HR, seven behind leader
Phil Plantier Phillip Alan Plantier (born January 27, 1969) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1990 to 1997. Listed at and , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. After his playing car ...
. He again was among the OBP and slugging leaders. He was named to the All-Star team once again at third base for the third time in his three full seasons. In the
Triple-A All-Star Game The Triple-A All-Star Game was an annual baseball game held from 1988 to 2019 between professional players from the affiliated Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball. These leagues were the International League (IL) and Pacific Coast League (P ...
, Gómez hit 5th for the AL team, right behind Juan González. In his three full years in the minors, he had led his leagues in batting average, slugging percentage, walks, runs, RBI and doubles and had been second in OBP and homers.


In the majors

That earned him a September call-up to the majors in 1990, where he batted .231/.362/.231 with no homers and one RBI. In 1991, Gómez became the Orioles' everyday third baseman though he spent June back in Rochester (.257/.359/.495), batting .233/.302/.409 for the O's with 16 HR's and 45 RBI in 118 games. He had a very good year in 1992 when he batted .265/.356/.425 (116 OPS+) with 17 HR's and 64 RBI. In 1993, he fell to .197/.295/.348 (71 OPS+) with 10 HR's and 25 RBI. During the strike year of 1994, Gómez was having an excellent year, batting .274/.336/.502 (a 117 OPS+) with 15 HR's and 56 RBI. In Gómez's final year in Baltimore, 1995, he fell to .236/.336/.370 with only 4 HR's and 12 RBI. As a result of Gómez's poor performance with Baltimore, he was let go at the end of the 1995 season. He signed as a free agent with the
Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...
in January 1996. Gómez rebounded to a .238/.344/.431 season (a 103 OPS+), with 17 HR's and 56 RBI. However, he was released in December.


Japan

Gómez signed with the
Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...
in 1997. In his first season, he hit .315/.407/.559 with 21 home runs and 89 RBI, which earned him his first of two Best Nines. Gómez's success continued in the 1998 season, when he batted .274/.363/.493 with 26 home runs and 76 RBI. In 1999, Gómez had his career best year in Japan, batting .297/.389/.570 with 36 home runs and 109 RBI, which earned him to another Best Nine squad. He was third in the
Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...
in RBI that season. He slid to .289/.373/.507 with 25 home runs and 79 RBI in 2000. Gómez was signed to a minor league contract by the
Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...
in 2001, but didn't play very much that spring, and was let go by the Pirates. As a result, he re-signed with the Dragons, where he batted .306/.398/.546 with 19 home runs and 61 RBI. During his final year with Chunichi in 2002, he batted .267/.344/.502 with 16 circuit clouts and 43 RBI. In his last two years in the NPB, Gómez was plagued by knee injuries. Overall Leo hit .293/.382/.532 in Japan, with 153 home runs. For years he was probably the Dragons' top power threat, leading the club three times and finishing second to
Takeshi Yamasaki is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. During his 24 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, he played for the Chunichi Dragons, the Orix BlueWave, and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Career Yamasaki was selected at the number 2 ...
twice (once trailing by a single homer). Only in his last year did he not finish in the club's top two and his rate of one every 15.4 AB still led Chunichi's regulars. Overall, Leo Gómez hit over 300 homers as a pro baseball player.


Minor League manager

He managed the
Aberdeen IronBirds The Aberdeen IronBirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in the city of Aberdeen in Harford County, Maryland. They are the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles and compete in the South Atlantic League. They were previously members of th ...
of the New York–Penn League in 2011.


External links

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Leo 1966 births Living people Baltimore Orioles players Chicago Cubs players Chunichi Dragons players Hagerstown Suns players Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Major League Baseball third basemen Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen People from Canóvanas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Japan Rochester Red Wings players