The Cleveland Guardians acquired a Minor League pitching prospect from the New York Mets.
Teams across MLB were highly active on Thursday, as it was international signing day. The Cleveland Guardians were busy adding young prospects to the organization, but they also had time to make a trade with a National League team.
The team announced on Thursday afternoon that the Guardians acquired LHP Franklin Gomez from the New York Mets in exchange for international bonus pool money.
This deal obviously isn’t the biggest one the Cleveland organization has made this winter, but it is still an interesting addition to the Guardians' farm system.
Jun 27, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; A general view a Cleveland Guardians hat and glove on the dugout railing before a game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn ImagesGomez was originally signed by the Mets as an international free agent in 2022. He made his affiliate ball debut in 2023 when he was assigned to the St. Lucie Mets (Low-A). This is where he spent the eternity of the 2024 season and start of the 2025 season, until he was promoted to the Brooklyn Cyclones (High-A) in the middle of last season.
Throughout his minor league career, Gomez has appeared in 69 games, with 47 of those being starts. The left-hander also owns a 3.39 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP, while carrying a strikeout rate of 25 percent and a thrown strike rate of about 66 percent.
Gomez doesn’t throw incredibly hard, but his change-up did come out as above-average during the 2025 minor league season; definitely something for Cleveland to work with.
Baseball America ranked Gomez as the No. 22-ranked prospect in the Mets’ farm system before being acquired by the Guardians.
It’ll be interesting to see where Gomez is assigned by the Guardians, but the most likely outcome is that he joins either the Lynchburg Hillcats (Single-A) or the Lake County Captains (High-A).
After his promotion to High-A in 2025, Gomez logged a 4.70 ERA in six appearances (12 innings pitched), so there is clearly still some more development that must be done.
With Gomez being 20 years old, he’s still a ways off from even being considered an option for the MLB roster.
Obviously, this acquisition won’t have implications on the big-league roster for the 2026 season, but it is a nice pickup for the Guardians if they believe they see something in Gomez that could eventually make him a quality arm.