MLB Scout's Video View: Analyzing Yankees Prospect Yoendrys Gomez

Image credit: Yoendrys Gomez (Photo by Tony Farlow/Four Seam Images)

While the game is away, Baseball America is digging into its video database and asking scouts around the game to analyze what they see from some of the sport’s best prospects. Today’s subject is Yankees righthander Yoendrys Gomez.

Gomez signed with the Yankees out of Venezuela in 2016. He had a projectable body and low-90s fastball then, and has seen his velocity jump as he’s grown into his frame over the last three seasons. He bounced back and forth between the Dominican Summer and Gulf Coast leagues over his first two seasons, then made it to low Class A Charleston last season as a 19-year-old.

Beyond the fastball, Gomez shows the making of two pitches that could be at least average. He ranked as the Yankees’ No. 12 prospect heading into the year.

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Here’s the video below, followed by what our scout had to say.

SCOUT: Gomez is another Yankees arm who is fun to scout. He gets lost in the shuffle of some of their bigger-named prospects, but this guy has a chance to be really good. He has a starter’s delivery—including a lean build with shoulders to fill into—and ease of operation. There’s a younger look to his face as well, and I see upside here.

He has a loose and whippy arm with plus arm speed through release. He’s going to gain strength and throw harder as he matures. He has some inconsistency to how it all works, however, and will lose his release point at times. There are no real delivery issues that might cause the inconsistency, he just needs to be more confident in himself and trust his stuff.

Gomez’s fastball is electric if you catch him on the right day. He throws it between 92-97 mph with hard bore to the arm side. The pitch can really jam up righthanders and run it away from lefthanders. Has control more than command and still needs to be more consistent. He will amp up his effort when he falls behind in counts or gets into tougher situations, which will cause some scattered mistakes.

The curveball has a chance to be a plus pitch. He throws it pretty firm, up to 83 with depth, at his best. Other times, he will cast the pitch and it will get more lateral and flat on him. His best are early in counts when he is just trying to steal a strike and not trying to force a plus pitch. I have it as plus in the future and see the spin and depth to get there.

His changeup is a bit of an enigma. There are times when it has late dive like a nasty splitter. It’s firm, up to 89 mph for me, so when it gets flat it will play like a below-average two-seamer. That’s when some hard contact comes. When he gets below the zone sink to it, it is another plus pitch. This guy has weapons to get guys out.

Gomez is relatively young and got up to low Class A last year. I think he is a guy who, when it clicks, is going to fly through their system like Deivi Garcia. There are a lot of things to like, and when he gets consistent everything is going to sharpen up and you are going to see a lot more repeatability to the performance.

From a scouting perspective, this is a guy you can dream on. He has big velocity, shows you two plus secondary pitches all on a young, projectable build with a starter’s look to the arm action and delivery. It will all come down to being consistent.

If that happens, I think you have a mid-rotation starter.