The White Sox announced that they have claimed right-hander Yoendrys Gomez off waivers from the Dodgers. Outfielder Greg Jones was released to open up a 40-man roster space.
After spending the majority of his pro career in the Yankees farm system, Gomez is now joining his third different organization in the last three weeks. New York designated Gomez for assignment in late April and the Dodgers claimed him off waivers, only to themselves DFA Gomez earlier this week. Gomez has seen some big league time with both of his 2025 teams, posting a 2.70 ERA in 10 relief innings for the Yankees and a whopping 14.54 ERA over 4 1/3 innings and three appearances with Los Angeles.
This workload makes it 27 2/3 career MLB innings for Gomez since he made his debut during the 2023 season, with a 4.88 ERA for his time in the Show. Since the start of the 2021 season, Gomez has thrown only 246 2/3 total innings in the majors and minors, as a Tommy John surgery drastically cut into his availability in 2021-22.
Gomez still posted some pretty solid numbers in the minors, including a 3.67 ERA and 27% strikeout rate over 83 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level. However, Gomez’s walk rate has also crept upwards as he has worked his way up the minor league ladder. While he has worked almost exclusively as a starter in the minors, he has worked only as a reliever in his brief MLB tenure, albeit usually throwing multiple innings in his appearances.
Since Gomez is out of minor league options, the White Sox will need to keep him on their active roster unless they’re willing to expose him to waivers again in an effort to outright him off the 40-man roster and send Gomez down to Triple-A. The pitching-needy Sox should be able to make use of a multi-inning reliever who may yet have some utility as a depth starter, so this latest move could give the 25-year-old Gomez a clearer path to big league playing time than he would’ve likely found with the Yankees or Dodgers.
Jones was a waiver claim himself in late March, as the White Sox plucked him away from the Rockies just prior to Opening Day. Jones appeared in just three MLB games with Chicago, after making his debut in the Show last season and playing in six games with Colorado. In a nod to his speed and defense, Jones has been a late-game sub in all but one of his nine career games in the majors, and he has one hit (a home run) in eight plate appearances.
Known as one of the fastest players in baseball, Jones has stolen 167 bases (out of 192 attempts) during six minor league seasons. This speed and multi-positional defensive ability drew some top-100 prospect attention from MLB Pipeline in 2022 when Jones was in the Rays’ farm system, though he has also struck out in 567 of his 1662 career PA at the minor league level. He had posted solid Triple-A numbers before his production drastically fell off with Triple-A Charlotte this season, and thus the Sox have decided to move on in the form of a proper release.
Jones is still only 27, and his speed is the type of premium ability that usually intrigues teams. It wouldn’t be surprising to see another club scoop Jones up as at least a depth piece, with an eye towards possibly unlocking something at the plate that can turn Jones into more of a functional asset at the MLB level.