Boston Red Sox Prospect Rio Gomez deserves your support
Rio Gomez might not be the biggest name in the Boston Red Sox minor league system. But there is a good chance you’ve heard of the prospect. Son of the late, great, Pedro Gomez. That’s something he probably hears all the time though. Can’t imagine he’s tired of hearing about how much people loved his father. But Gomez is also his own man.
A left-handed pitching prospect, Gomez has put together four consecutive fantastic seasons to start his career. But a really fast glance at 2022 will tell you things have gone south. That’s really not the case however.
Gomez does have a 13.50 ERA, .350 BAA, and 2.35 WHIP. That being said, he’s posted those numbers in just 4 2/3 innings. He’s given up seven runs, and six of those came in his first two outings (which totaled 1 1/3 innings).
See, the 27-year-old didn’t start the season until May 28 due to injury. And he didn’t get any rehab appearances at lower levels. So he was sort of just tossed back into the fire at Double-A.
We’re starting to see the dominant Gomez again though. The one that has a 2.95 career ERA even with his bad start to the 2022 season. In his last four outings, Gomez has given up one run on only one hit and two walks, while striking out five over 3 1/3 innings pitched.
He possesses a fastball that sits high-80s and low-90s. A solid slider (maybe a bit more of a slurve) with really nice break. And a good changeup in the low-80s with a really nice dip and arm movement that looks like his fastball.
The pitch mix is pretty nice, even if he isn’t firing the ball in there at 98. But that’s not why you should root for him.
Gomez just comes off as an extremely likable guy. A 36th-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, I don’t know if people expected him to make it this far. He’s constantly got a smile on his face and seems to be a very hard worker.
Everyone on Portland was stopping to sign autographs for kids and talk to fans. Gomez was joking around with the kids. At one point he signed autographs for two young boys as he walked onto the field. He went back into the locker room a few minutes later and the same two kids asked for his autograph on the same baseballs. Gomez made a joke that they didn’t recognize him and genuinely seemed to love the interactions.
So what do we have here? Son of a legend – check. Underdog (late-round pick) – check. Hard-worker but knows how to smile and have fun with the fans – check. Humble – absolutely.
There are a lot of prospects that fans fall in love with because of flashy play, crazy stats, or some other superficial part of the game.
The lefty will get the Boston Red Sox the stats. But he gives you something else too. Fans love a player who is easy to root for, and it doesn’t get much easier than Rio Gomez. So next time you see him at a game – cheer for him, call out his name, give him a wave, smile at him. I bet he’ll smile back.