Yankees rumors: 5 players already on the trade block
By Tim Boyle
4) Why Yankees prospect Antonio Gomez is already on the trade block
A couple of the Yankees prospects should join those three major leaguers on the trade block. Catcher Antonio Gomez is one of those players. A catcher, there’s a very clear reason why the team should be willing to deal him away. His name is Austin Wells.
At 6-2 and 220 pounds, Wells has the size to become the next “Boomer” in the Bronx. His bat can do some booming, too. He hit 20 home runs last year in the minors in only 402 trips to the plate. Easily the best catching prospect the club has, he’s a left-handed hitting backstop the team drafted in the first round of the 2020 draft. The team can afford to trade away Gomez, another catcher, for a chance to see what Wells can do.
Gomez hasn’t grown into as great of a hitter as a professional. A bit younger, he hasn’t shown much pop and his 100 strikeouts in 370 plate appearances last season in Single-A is a bad sign. This doesn’t mean he’ll be a complete bust. Gomez looks like the kind of guy who could be more of a defense-focused backstop instead of the masher the Yankees hope Wells turns into.
Catchers can be hard to predict. Many move off of the position by the time they get to the big leagues, especially if they can hit. As many teams have proven in recent years, your catcher doesn’t need to be a centerpiece of the lineup. Look at the Houston Astros. They barely got anything offensively from their catchers. Gomez won’t help the Yankees haul in any great major leaguers, but he is a decent piece to throw into a package.