Mets could use Carlos Gomez and his hot bat in the big leagues right now

Veteran outfielder Carlos Gomez is having a great year in Triple-A Syracuse and the New York Mets need to take advantage of his hot bat at the major league level.

Since making his major league debut for the New York Mets in 2007, outfielder Carlos Gomez spent the next 11 seasons playing for 5 different teams before returning to the organization during this year’s Spring Training.

For those who do not recall, Gomez signed a minor league deal with New York late in the spring and was assigned to the Triple-A Syracuse Mets after failing to make the big league club at the end of Spring Training.

Prior to this year, Gomez had signed a one year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he batted .208 with a .298 OBP, slugging 9 home runs with 32 RBI in 118 games.

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While he is a former two-time All-Star, Gomez’s poor performance in 2018 lead many to believe that he was at the end of his career. However, he appears to think that he still has a few good years left, and has taken the opportunity the Mets gave him in the minors to prove he can perform at a high level.

To this point, Gomez has played in 28 games for the Syracuse Mets, over which he has batted .282 with a .327 OBP, hitting 4 home runs and 15 RBI. He has been particularly hot as of late. In his last 10 games, Gomez has hit .390 in 41 at-bats for Syracuse.

While I am not suggesting that he will be the savior of the team if the Mets to call him up, he would add a capable right-handed bat to the bench, and an alternative outfielder to start against left-handed pitching.

With lefty outfielder Brandon Nimmo struggling to hit consistently to begin the year, it would make sense to platoon him with a right-handed hitter, but neither of the current options is performing well at the plate.

Currently, the Mets only right-handed outfielders that the Mets have on the team currently are Juan Lagares and Keon Broxton, both of whom have struggled to start the season.

Lagares is arguably the best defensive player on the team, but is only batting .202 with a .282 OBP, and Broxton in a former member of the 20/20 club, with potential to be both a power and a speed player, but is hitting well under the Mendoza Line, with a .154 average and .224 OBP.

Calling up Gomez could potentially fix that problem if he were to continuing hitting well upon his return to the major leagues.

The only issue would be deciding who the odd man out would be between Lagares and Broxton. Lagares is a better defensive player than Broxton, currently has a higher batting average and does not have any minor league options, so he likely would remain with the big league club.

However, Broxton cannot simply be optioned down to Triple-A, as he must first clear waivers and then either accept the assignment or opt for free agency if the Mets chose to replace him on the Major League roster.

If the Mets were to do this, then they must assess the risk of losing Broxton all together if they were to gamble on Gomez rediscovering his old form.

Either way, the Mets currently sit at a record of 17-20, and if they hope to make the post-season this year, then they need to make some decisions about the underperforming players they have on the major league roster.

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