Yasser Richard Gómez Soto (born April 1, 1980) is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. Gómez competed for Cuba in international competition, winning an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

silver medal. Gómez defected from Cuba, and signed with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

organization. He most recently played with the

Joplin Blasters The Joplin Blasters were an American professional baseball team based in Joplin, Missouri. The Blasters were members of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. The team's home games were played at a rec ...

of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

Cuba

Gómez played in the Cuban National Series. In the 1997–98 Cuban National Series, playing for the Metropolitanos, Gómez won the Cuban National Series Rookie of the Year Award, as he hit .359 (5th in the league) and set a new rookie record with 112 hits. In the 1998-99 Cuban National Series, Gómez joined the

Industriales Industriales is a baseball team in the Cuban National Series. Located in Cerro, La Habana, it is known as the only team representing the country’s capital, Havana. Industriales is historically the most successful team in the National Series, a ...

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 Intercontinental Cup The 1999 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 30 November 1999 between Manchester United, winners of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, and Palmeiras, winners of the 1999 Copa Libertadores. The match was played at the ...

, going 0 for 2 as the backup centerfielder to Yobal Duenas. Gómez still made an impact on the Cup in a very negative way. In the 11th inning, he lost a fly ball from Gary White in the sun, giving White the game-winning single as Peter Vogler raced home. In the 1999-2000 Cuban National Series, he hit .333 to tie Antonio Scull for third in the league. He played for the

Cuba national baseball team The Cuba national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Cuba'') represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is made up from the most professional players from the Cuban national baseball system. Cuba has been des ...

in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. Gómez was the team's main center fielder in the competition, as Cuba won the silver medal. Gómez hit .380/.481/.480 in the

2000-01 Cuban National Series The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

. He was well back of the league leader in hitting in a high-average year as

Osmani Urrutia Osmani Urrutia Ramírez (also spelled ''Osmany'') (born June 29, 1976 in Jobabo, Las Tunas Province, Cuba) is a Cuban baseball player. He plays right field for the Las Tunas Magos of the Cuban National Series and for the Cuba ...

hit .431. The left-hander batted .240/.406/.280 in the

2001 Baseball World Cup The 2001 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 34th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, 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 The 2002 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match played on 3 December 2002, between Real Madrid of Spain, winners of the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League, and Olimpia of Paraguay, winners of the 2002 Copa Libertadores. The match was ...

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

2002-03 Cuban National Series The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

. He bounced back to .301/.369/.336 in 2003-2004. His 14 runs in the 2004 Super Liga tied

Yoandy Garlobo Yoandy Garlobo Romay (born January 12, 1977 in Jovellanos, Matanzas Province, Cuba) is a baseball player who starred for Cuba at the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Garlobo was the designated hitter for Cuba at the tournament, where he had a .480 ba ...

for the lead. He played for the Cuban "B" team in the

2004 Haarlem Baseball Week The 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week was an international baseball competition held at the Pim Mulier Stadium in Haarlem, the Netherlands from July 23 to August 1, 2004. It was the 22nd edition of the tournament and featured teams from Chinese Taipei, ...

and went 9 for 19 with 3 walks. In 2004-05, Gómez batted .330/.419/.398. 2005-2006 was a big year in limited time as he hit .403/.481/.484 in 48 games. He was left off of the

2006 World Baseball Classic The 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was the inaugural tournament between national baseball teams that included players from Major League Baseball. It was held from March 3 to 20 in stadiums that are in and around Tokyo, Japan; San Juan, Puerto ...

roster. In 2006-07, Gómez produced at a .330/.438/.388 rate. In the

2007 World Port Tournament The 2007 World Port Tournament was an international baseball competition held at the DOOR Neptunus Familiestadion in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from August 2–12, 2007. It was the 11th edition of the tournament and featured teams from Chinese Ta ...

, he was 3 for 13 with a walk and a double. Gómez had a strong campaign in the 2007-08 Cuban National Series, hitting .394/.495/.511 to finish a career-high third in average behind Garlobo and

Leonys Martín Leonys Martín Tápanes (born March 6, 1988), nicknamed "Ikadi", is a Cuban-American professional baseball center fielder who is currently a free agent. Born in Cuba, he played locally for Villa Clara of the Cuban National Series, and for the C ...

. He led the league with 8 sacrifice flies. He was left off the All-Star team as

Alexei Bell Alexeis Bell Quintero (born October 2, 1983), is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder. Career In 2008 in the Cuban National Series, Bell hit for 31 home runs and drove in 111 RBIs in only 90 games in the regular season. In addition, he to ...

Alfredo Despaigne Alfredo Despaigne Rodriguez (born June 17, 1986) is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He played for the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Career In 2009, Despai ...

and

Yoandry Urgellés Yoandry Urgellés Cobas (born July 28, 1981 in Santiago de Cuba) is a left fielder for Industriales of the Cuban National Series. He was part of the Cuban team that won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. During the 2005-06 ...

were chosen. He was then excluded from Cuba's roster for the 2008 Olympics. Gómez was originally slated to play in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

, but he and

Yadel Martí Yadel Martí Carrillo (born July 22, 1979) is a Cuban right-handed pitcher. Career Martí was 1-0 with two saves and no earned runs at the 2006 World Baseball Classic, helping Cuba to a second-place finish. He was named to the all-tourname ...

were kicked off the team in November 2008 and banned from league play in the 2008-09 Cuban National Series for an unspecified reason, believed to be an attempted defection to the United States. Not allowed to play baseball, Gómez and Martí made their plans to defect. Gómez, Martí and

Juan Yasser Serrano Juan Yasser Serrano (born March 3, 1988 in Villa Clara Province, Cuba) is a Cuban right-handed pitcher. Serrano pitched for Villa Clara in the Cuban National Series, where he had a 4-16 win–loss record and a 4.40 earned run average. He also pi ...

defected from Cuba in December 2008 in an effort to get to the Dominican Republic to seek a Major League Baseball career. In August 2009, they were declared free agents.

Atlanta Braves

On May 26, 2010, Gómez signed with the

organization. He signed for $20,000El Nuevo Herald
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.

References

External links

Olympic Info
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Yasser 1980 births Living people Olympic baseball players for Cuba Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Cuba Defecting Cuban baseball players Mississippi Braves players Olympic medalists in baseball 2013 World Baseball Classic players Camden Riversharks players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Baseball players from Havana

Cuba

Atlanta Braves

2012

See also

References

External links