Yasser Gómez

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Gómez and the second or maternal family name is Soto.
Yasser Gómez
Joplin Blasters – No. 5
Havana, Cuba
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Medals
Representing  Cuba
Men's Baseball
Summer Olympics
Silver medal – second place 2000 Sydney Team
Baseball World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2001 Taipei Team
Intercontinental Cup
Silver medal – second place 1999 Sydney Team
Gold medal – first place 2002 Havana Team

Yasser Richard Gómez Soto (born April 1, 1980) is a Cuban baseball player. Gómez competed for Cuba in international competition, winning an Olympic silver medal. Gómez defected from Cuba, and signed with the Atlanta Braves organization. He most recently played with the Joplin Blasters of the American Association of Professional Baseball.

Cuba

Gómez played in the

1998-99 Cuban National Series, Gómez joined the Industriales
and set an aluminum-bat era record for triples (12), including three in one game on January 23 in consecutive at-bats against Ciro Licea.

Gómez made his Cuban national team debut in the

1999-2000 Cuban National Series, he hit .333 to tie Antonio Scull
for third in the league.

He played for the

2000-01 Cuban National Series. He was well back of the league leader in hitting in a high-average year as Osmani Urrutia hit .431. The left-hander batted .240/.406/.280 in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, again serving as Cuba's main center fielder. He was 1 for 2 with a run in the gold medal game 5-3 win over Team USA before leaving for a pinch-hitter. During the 2001-2002 season, he batted .365/.430/.496 and was 7th in average. His 3 triples led the 2002 Super Liga
.

Gómez played his final games for the national team in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup. He batted .269/.406/.346 with 8 runs in 9 games and was caught stealing in both of his attempts. He was 0 for 3 in the gold medal game; for only the second time in four international tournaments, his Cuban team won Gold. Gomez was never again a member of the national baseball team, and reported he was never given a reason.[2]

Gómez batted .247/.307/.247 in reduced action in the

Alexei Bell, Alfredo Despaigne and Yoandry Urgellés
were chosen. He was then excluded from Cuba's roster for the 2008 Olympics.

Gómez was originally slated to play in the

2008-09 Cuban National Series for an unspecified reason, believed to be an attempted defection to the United States.[4] Not allowed to play baseball, Gómez and Martí made their plans to defect.[2] Gómez, Martí and Juan Yasser Serrano defected from Cuba in December 2008 in an effort to get to the Dominican Republic to seek a Major League Baseball career.[3] In August 2009, they were declared free agents.[5]

Atlanta Braves

On May 26, 2010, Gómez signed with the Atlanta Braves organization.[6] He signed for $20,000[1] and was assigned to the Double-A Mississippi Braves. He did not play in 2011.

2012

Gómez signed with the

McAllen Thunder of the North American League for 2012.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "El Nuevo Herald". Archived from the original on 2011-01-16. Retrieved 2012-01-31.
  2. ^ a b "Injustices, not MLB, reason for Cuba defections". 12 January 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Sources: Cuban WBC pitching star Marti defects". 29 December 2008.
  4. ^ "Two top Cuban players likely to miss 2009 WBC". 21 November 2008.
  5. ^ Jorge Arangure Jr. (August 5, 2009). "Cuban free agents could provide playoff boost". Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  6. ^ "Braves sign Cuban outfielder Gomez | MLB.com: News". Archived from the original on 2012-11-04.
  7. ^ "2012 McAllen Thunder Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
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