Cardinals to Select OF Moises Gomez
According to reports by Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Cardinals are going to be selecting outfielder Moises Gomez onto the team’s 40-man roster. By selecting Gomez, it would prevent him from qualifying for minor league free agency and once official would bring the Cardinals 40-man roster to 37.
Gomez (24) was originally signed by the Tampa Bay Rays out of his native Venezuela back in 2015. The right handed slugger showed promise with his power a few seasons later, by hitting .280/.328/.503 with 19 HR in 122 games while playing for the Ray’s Single-A affiliate Bowling Green Hot Rods. However, despite the power, Gomez would struggle with contact as he climbed the ranks in the Rays organization.
While Gomez was ranked in Baseball America’s top 30 prospects from 2019-2021, he fell off after posting a very disappointing .171/.256/.309 slashline for the Ray’s Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. He also had a concerning 38.2% strikeout rate, (accumulating 115 of them in just 76 games) which led to Tampa Bay electing not to put him on the 40-man roster. He then qualified as a minor league free agent with the Cardinals deciding to take a flier on Gomez, signing him a few weeks later.
The Cardinals sent Gomez to Double-A Springfield, where he quickly made a name for himself. He slashed .321/.401/.705 with 23 HR & 54 RBI in 60 games for Springfield and then once promoted to Memphis, slashed .266/.340/.541 with 16 HR & 40 RBI in 60 games for the Redbirds.
His accumulated .294/.371/.624 slashline with 39 HR & 94 RBI in 501 plate appearances, puts him back on the prospect radar, enough so that the Cardinals are choosing to protect him from the upcoming Rule 5 draft.
Gomez finished the 2022 season ranked first in all of MiLB with 39 HR (which earned him the Joe Bauman Award given to the top homerun hitter in minors), second in slugging percentage (.624), sixth in OPS (.995), & sixth in total bases (276).
It remains to be seen if Gomez will be in the Cardinals long term outfield plans, but with those type of numbers he has certainly made his case to be considered. If he doesn’t break camp with the club coming out of Spring Training, you can expect him to man one of the corner outfield positions in Memphis to start next season.