The Dodgers have designated right-hander Yoendrys Gomez for assignment, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty J.P. Feyereisen, who’s been recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers claimed Feyereisen off waivers from the D-backs last week.
Los Angeles claimed Gomez off waivers from the Yankees late last month. The 25-year-old once ranked among New York’s top prospects but hasn’t gotten much of a look in the majors. A move to the National League West didn’t change that. Gomez appeared in three games for L.A., impressing in his first appearance (three scoreless frames, four strikeouts against the Pirates) before being trounced by the Marlins for seven runs in 1 1/3 innings across his next two outings.
In a total of 27 2/3 big league frames, Gomez now owns a 4.88 earned run average. He’s fanned 19.1% of his opponents against an ugly 13.7% walk rate. Both the Yankees and Dodgers had little recourse but to DFA Gomez when he struggled, as he’s out of minor league options and can’t simply be sent to Triple-A; he’d first need to clear waivers in order to be sent down.
Though the big league track record is minimal, it’s at least possible that Gomez will draw a look from another club. Granted, nearly every team in baseball passed on him the last time he was on waivers — the Dodgers were 28th in waiver priority at the time and still won the claim — but Gomez has a nice minor league track record. The 6’3″, 212-pound righty has near-identical ERAs of 3.67 and 3.64 in Triple-A and Double-A, respectively, and those have come in nearly identical samples of 83 1/3 innings and 81 2/3 innings.
Gomez missed most of the 2021-22 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Coupled with the canceled 2020 minor league season, that’s cut into his ability to build a more extensive track record in the minors. Still, the innings he’s thrown have generally been quality ones. Gomez punched out 27% of his Triple-A opponents last year — a nice number that was backed by a healthy 13.5% swinging-strike rate. Command was not and never has been a strong point — he walked 11.3% of opponents in 2024 and has a career 10.8% mark in the minors — but he’s managed to find success in spite of that flaw.
Gomez has worked primarily as a starting pitcher in the minors. A team in need of some rotation depth, perhaps one with some flexibility to install him as a long man in the bullpen, could feasibly take a look via a small trade or waiver claim. If the Dodgers manage to pass him through waivers unclaimed, he’d stick with the organization in Triple-A as a depth arm, as Gomez does not have enough service time or the prior outright assignment required to elect free agency after clearing waivers.
