Leuris Gómez

Leuris Gómez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.

• Born October 20, 1986 in Moca, Espaillat D.R.

BR register page

Biographical Information

Leuris Gómez pitched in AAA during five seasons but never made the majors. He has pitched in the Dominican Republic, USA, Venezuela and Mexico.

He was signed in 2005 by Colorado Rockies scouts Rolando Fernandez and Felix Feliz. He hit .290/.379/.348 for the 2006 DSL Rockies, scoring 39 runs in 66 games, while playing mostly 3B but a fair bit of 2B and SS. He fielded .926 at third for the same team in 2007 while producing at a .303/.380/.375 clip. He stole 23 bases but was caught 16 times. He was second on the team in average and OBP but tied for the Dominican Summer League in times caught stealing. With the 2008 Casper Ghosts, he hit .237/.275/.289 before an injury cut his season short.

The Rockies then turned him into a pitcher. He split 2009 between Casper (0-1, 4.68 in 19 G) and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (4 R, 6 H in 2 2/3 IP). In 2010, he was 6-5 with a save and a 4.62 ERA in 48 games for the Asheville Tourists, walking only 20 in 78 innings. He tied Arquimedes Caminero and Chad Rose for 5th in the South Atlantic League in games pitched.

Leuris was 5-3 with a 4.75 ERA for the '11 Modesto Nuts but struck out 99 in 85 1/3 innings. In 2012, he was with Modesto (4-5, Sv, 5.14) and the Sky Sox (1-0, 0 R in 2 IP), now primarily a starting pitcher. He returned to relief in 2013, with Modesto (1.50 ERA in 11 G) and the Tulsa Drillers (4-1, Sv, 1.28 in 25 G), striking out 77 in 60 1/3 IP while posting a .98 WHIP. Among Rockies farmhands with 50+ IP, he easily had the best ERA; Eddie Butler was next at 1.80.

Gómez gave up a run in one inning for the 2013-2014 Tigres del Licey in his winter league debut. He spent most of 2014 with Colorado Springs (2-2, 4.47 in 33 G; 66 K, 33 BB in 54 1/3 iP) and also allowed two runs in four innings for Tulsa. With Licey in 2014-2015, he was 1-0 with a 4.82 ERA. He struggled with the 2015 Albuquerque Isotopes (0-2, 6.75 in 8 G) to end his tenure in the Rockies chain after ten seasons.

In 2016-2017, he was 1-1 with a 2.89 ERA for the Tigres de Aragua. He went to the independent leagues with the Lincoln Saltdogs in 2017 and posted a 4-3, 4.66 record; he then went to the Texas AirHogs (1-2, 3.38 in 10 G). He allowed one run in 2/3 of an inning for Licey in 2017-2018. He went to Mexico for 2018, going 4-3 with a 3.79 ERA for the Algodoneros de Union Laguna in the spring season. In the fall season, he pitched for Union Laguna (2-3, 3.97 in 8 G) and the Toros de Tijuana (2-1, 2.95). He was 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA for Licey in winter ball.

He then made the Dominican national team for the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier. He turned in two quality starts, beating Nicaragua (5 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 3 K in 5 IP; Atahualpa Severino relieved) and Colombia in the championship game (6 H, 0 BB, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 K in 5 IP; Gabriel Arias took over). The Dominicans cruised to a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games. He tied Juan Sandoval and Carlos Téller for the tourney lead in wins and tied Téller and Leo Crawford for 5th in ERA. Felipe Natel won the All-Star starting pitcher nod for the event. Interestingly, he was not the only Dominican hurlers who had begun their pro career as position players, as Claudio Custodio had done so. So had 2018 Dominican team player Leyson Séptimo.