Minneapolis – When Yoendrys Gómez joined the Minnesota Twins in the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field in Cleveland, his season hadn’t been what he’d hoped.
The Tampa Bay Rays had recently designated him for assignment after he posted a 6.23 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, .275 opponents’ average, allowing 10 walks, and 13 strikeouts in 17 ⅓ innings across nine outings. Gómez still showed solid results with his pitch mix, specifically his sweeper, which has been a problem against hitters all year.
The Twins liked what they saw from him and traded cash considerations to the Rays for him before another team could take him off waivers. He’s become a winning lottery ticket since arriving in Minnesota.
“He was a guy we liked at the end of spring training; [the Rays] kept him on their team,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton. “Sometimes it just takes the right bit of scenery, or maybe the right conversations for it to click, and for Gomey, it’s clicked with our group, which is really good for us.”
When he first stepped on the mound, his unique lavender colored glove stood out. Yoendrys Gómez first wore it because he likes the color a lot, but he’s added a second custom glove in a more traditional cream color with red laces to pay tribute to his mom and dad in Venezuela.
Gómez made an immediate impact in his first Twins series against the Cleveland Guardians. He pitched in all three games and only needed to throw a combined 17 pitches across all three. He only pitched a third of an inning in the first two games, then a full one in the third. However, Gómez’s has shuffled around plenty the last month as he’s settled in.
“I’m just trying to be ready at any point during the game without paying too much attention to how the game is going, or the inning that we’re in,” Gómez said through assistant hitting coach Rayden Sierra, who translated on his behalf. “Just trying like to make sure I’m ready for whenever my name is called.”
That mindset has been working well for Gómez, who has only allowed one run in a Twins uniform. He’s brought his combined ERA on the season down from 6.23 to 3.90 after Tuesday night’s Twins 6-4 win over the White Sox.
Hitters are only batting .140 against him. He has four walks and 16 strikeouts since he joined Minnesota, and it’s all been a great help from the coaching staff to identify what he needed to adjust after his poor stint in Tampa.
“It feels like there’s been some good work done,” Gómez said through Sierra. “The communication with the pitching coaches has been good. [He] just trusts that he can come and attack the zone because he feels like earlier in the year, probably like going around the zone a little too much, some ball mixed in there.”
Gómez offers an excellent sweeper, sinker, cutter, and the occasional changeup out of the bullpen. It’s something some of his fellow Twins relievers knew would be a great addition to their pen.
Anthony Banda pitched with Yoendrys Gómez on the Los Angeles Dodgers briefly last season. Gómez only pitched in three games with the defending World Series champs and allowed seven runs on 10 hits and two walks. Even though he didn’t produce on-field results, Banda believed in Gómez because of his work behind the scenes.
“Guys getting claimed off waivers usually are one or two adjustments away from being really good,” Banda said. “When I met him in LA, he had really good stuff, electric stuff, good velocity. I think his sweeper is newer, or maybe a little tuned up; it’s devastating this year.”
Gómez’s sweeper has a 39.2% whiff rate against opposing hitters this year and has become a good off-speed pitch to complement his fastball. With 14 appearances and only one run allowed, the Twins believe they’ve found something in Gómez that can help bring a long-term solution to a rebuilding bullpen. And if everything continues to fall into place, he could be a high-leverage arm for the Twins to lean on for the rest of 2026 and beyond.
“It’s good,” Shelton said. “I mean, you’ve gotta give credit to our baseball ops group for identifying him.”
“Sometimes it takes a couple teams to find that stability, and I think he found that stability here,” said Banda. “It’s fun to watch because it’s fun to see someone kind of blossom and refine his confidence, and show himself he’s always been able to do it.”
