Meet Raimon Gomez, the Mets pitching prospect they hid from other teams
Raimon Gomez hasn’t pitched in two years because of Tommy John surgery but has Mets officials excited. Credit: Brooklyn Cyclones/Matthew Kipp
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Mets have a secret, and his name is Raimon Gomez.
He is a 23-year-old righthander from Venezuela. He hasn’t pitched in nearly two years because of Tommy John surgery and the ensuing rehabilitation process. Finally healthy, he has team officials abuzz because he once again possesses the fastest fastball in the organization: 100-101 mph regularly, touching 103.
Yes, 103 — in the weeks before the season starts.
On the brink of returning to game action with Low-A St. Lucie, Gomez doesn’t have much prospect status, as measured by external rankings.
But the Mets are big believers.
“I could talk for like 18 hours on him,” Andrew Christie, director of player development, said.
Senior vice president of player development Andy Green, who hinted at a potential fast rise through the farm system, echoed: “We’re all pretty excited to watch him pitch this season.”
There is reason to believe that those sentiments are more than mere preseason prospect puffery. In addition to their words, the Mets’ actions show that they think Gomez has the potential to be a real somebody.
Consider: Last autumn, Gomez was ready to face batters, a major checkpoint in any pitcher’s Tommy John comeback. And the Mets wanted him to take that step. But only under the right circumstances.
One option was to have him participate in the Dominican Republic-based instructional league, which is exactly what it sounds like: Young, mostly inexperienced guys playing games and getting reps in a low-stress environment in which the focus is on instruction. Mets minor-leaguers compete against those from other clubs.
But they had a hangup. Those games are open to scouts from other teams. And the Mets didn’t want anybody to see Gomez, because he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December. They feared another organization would notice him, select him — steal him away from the Mets — and put him on the major-league roster in 2025, even after so long on the sidelines.
So they settled on having Gomez face Mets minor-leaguers behind closed complex doors. No outside eyes, nobody seeing what he looked like, far lower risk anybody would think to take him in the Rule 5 draft.
“That is correct,” Christie said. “He threw against Mets hitters. He did not throw against opposing hitters, where other teams could get a scouting report. That is correct.”
Even on the day of the Rule 5 draft, Mets officials harbored some concern that Gomez could get picked. But he didn’t. Phew.
“He’s super exciting,” Christie reiterated.
Part of the challenge for Gomez this season, aside from merely getting back on the mound, is continuing what Christie called his “personal growth journey.” The Mets want to see Gomez excel in off-field realms such as workout routine and diet. Gomez in the past year has made “pretty exceptional” strides in getting in shape, Christie said.
“The path to the big leagues is him dominating every day,” Christie said. “Dominating a routine, making sure the prep is done well, making sure the throwing program is done well, making sure he shows up on time. That is the stuff that he needs to dominate.”
In other words, the professional part of professional baseball.
“I can’t imagine being in another country as a teenager and as a 20-year-old and being hurt in another country, rehabbing away from family,” Green said. “He has grown immensely.”
Gomez throws a solid slider and work-in-progress changeup, but the heater is what has the organization amped. He makes 103 seem simple.
“It appears relatively effortless for him, to be at that velo,” Green said.
"The ease of operation to get to the velocity is crazy," Christie said.
Gomez had the Mets similarly giddy during minor-league spring training in 2023, when he was throwing this hard — and as a starting pitcher, team people highlighted — at such a young age. Then he blew out his elbow seven innings into the season.
One of the big questions entering this year: Will Gomez stay a starter? Or does a bullpen role make more sense?
“I believe very, very strongly — not just believe,” Christie said. “We are going to give him every chance to start. He is going to start.”
That is the plan at the outset. But he also has never surpassed 50 innings in a season. As one high-ranking executive noted, the clock is ticking again. The Rule 5 draft will come back around in December. And by then, if Gomez makes good on all this talent, he won’t be a secret.
“We won’t put a ceiling on where he could end up,” Green said. “We’re not necessarily inclined to slow play him all year . . . I just want to see him throw innings and throw strikes. If that guy throws innings and throws strikes, he is going to be really good.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
