April 26: The Dodgers have formally added Gómez to their active roster. In a corresponding move, the team optioned right-hander Noah Davis.
April 25: The Dodgers have claimed right-hander Yoendrys Gómez off waivers from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. The Yankees designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Dodgers have had an open 40-man roster spot since designating outfielder Eddie Rosario for assignment on the weekend. Since Gómez is out of options, they will need to open an active roster spot for him once he reports to the club.
Gómez, 25, joins a new organization for the first time. The Yankees signed him as an international amateur out of Venezuela back in 2016. As he climbed the ladder, he worked his way into being one of the top 30 prospects in the system. The Yankees added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
Since then, he has hardly been given a chance to face major league hitters. He used up three option years in the 2021-2023 seasons. Tommy John surgery in 2021 played a role there, as he wasn’t able to pitch much in that year or in 2022. The Yankees were given a fourth option for 2024, but he came into 2025 out of options and with just 13 1/3 innings of major league pitching under his belt. He held a long relief role for the first few weeks of this season, tossing 10 innings over six appearances.
Overall, Gómez has a 3.09 earned run average in 23 1/3 big league innings to this point. That’s not much to go on, but his minor league numbers are presumably intriguing to the Dodgers. Across 2023 and 2024, he tossed 148 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.63 ERA. His 12.3% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 27.7% of batters faced.
The Dodgers are generally willing to bet on talented but injury-prone pitchers and often find themselves rotating through various arms over the course of a season. At the moment, they have 12 pitchers on the injured list. Many of those underwent major surgeries last year, meaning the club wasn’t counting on them to contribute in 2025. However, they have also seen guys like Blake Snell, Blake Treinen and Tony Gonsolin get hurt in the past few weeks.
Right now, their rotation is down to Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. The club is trying to keep Yamamoto and Sasaki on a weekly pitching schedule, which is customary in Japan. As such, they have been doing the occasional spot start or bullpen game. Guys like Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Bobby Miller have made spot starts this month. On Wednesday, Ben Casparius started a bullpen game, with six relievers coming in after him. They also used seven pitchers in Tuesday’s extra-innings game at Wrigley.
The Dodgers had an off-day yesterday but have leaned heavily on their staff. Gómez will give them a fresh arm whenever he meets up with them. He tossed three innings for the Yanks on Monday, so he should be able to be deployed as a multi-inning guy in some capacity. The Dodgers have Yamamoto, Sasaki, Glasnow and May scheduled to pitch the next four games but might need another sport start and/or bullpen game by Tuesday. Gonsolin tossed five innings in a rehab start on Wednesday, so he might be a factor in the club’s plans as well.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images