NY Mets prospect who went viral for 104.5 mph pitch did something more important

Raimon Gomez made headlines over the weekend with a record 104.5 mph fastball called for strike three. A New York Mets prospect lost in the shuffle in recent seasons, Gomez is a graduate of Tommy John surgery who can throw nukes but isn’t always the greatest when it comes to control. An all-too-common issue with flamethrowers, the record-setting pitch is hardly his biggest accomplishment from his most recent outing.

Gomez missed all of 2024 and when he last pitched in High-A Brooklyn back in 2023, things didn’t go particularly well. His 9 walks in 7 innings plus a 6.43 ERA made him an easily forgotten Mets minor leaguer, especially with the franchise transitioning from a mediocre at best farm system to one of the better ones in baseball after mid-2023.

Most of Gomez’s professional career has been spent as a reliever with this season representing a change. He has started 3 games and in this headline snatching appearance, Gomez faced the minimum and made one noticeable change: he walked only one batter.

Harnessing his control will make Raimon Gomez a legitimate Mets prospect again

Our fascination with size and speed starts at a young age. Tell that to my son who watches the two racing scenes from Cars three times per day and the words “big red car” come out of his mouth constantly even when none is in sight. A large athlete will catch anyone’s attention. So does one who runs fast or in Gomez’s case, throws harder than anyone else.

Gomez’s season has included two 2.1 inning starts and his latest 3 inning performance. He walked 2 and 3 in those first two appearances with only a single base on balls in his longest performance of the year. 

Gomez has been as close to unhittable with two singles and a double allowed so far this season. A surplus of walks can do damage, though. As can allowing those walks to turn into doubles with stolen bases. Gomez has allowed 3 stolen bases despite the limited sample size and small number of base runners allowed. There are ways to get to him. Finding the strike zone consistently makes him a lot more dangerous than just being a hard-thrower.

Through 7.2 innings, Gomez has 6 walks and no earned runs allowed. Excessive walk totals weren’t an issue back in 2022 when he last pitched a full season. His 3.8 per 9 was completely acceptable with more than 10 strikeouts per 9 paired with it.

At 23 and currently in A-Ball, Gomez is a little behind his peers. A trip to Brooklyn seems inevitable. Probably the type of prospect who’ll fall more in line as a reliever than a starter, he’ll be a name to watch closely as he battles back to full strength (he looks like he’s already there) and makes a truer name for himself than just “the Mets prospect who throws harder than anyone else.”