When a former New York Yankees top prospect is on the waiver wire or on another team, you can always bank on the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, or Los Angeles Dodgers to give them another chance.
Sometimes, it doesn't work out. Often, it does - we see you, Rob Refsnyder! You too, Richard Fitts and Garrett Whitlock! And Trey Sweeney!
The latest example of this ongoing phenomenon changed hands on Friday when the pitching-starved Dodgers put in a claim for an out-of-options player who the Yankees very recently believed in.
The Yankees ran out of roster space earlier this week when Tyler Matzek was ready to be activated, and crossed their fingers that, after an impressive spring, Yoendrys Gómez might silently clear waivers on his way back to the high minors. That was destined to absolutely not happen, though, despite a middling start to his regular-season MLB campaign (2.70 ERA across 10 innings/six games, but only five strikeouts). Gómez has top prospect pedigree and a pitch mix that makes it easy to envision him soaking up innings, if not starting.
The Dodgers saw it, too, and now they've claimed it.
Yankees lose former top pitching prospect Yoendrys Gómez to Dodgers on waivers
Gómez had fallen off the Yankees' Top 30 prospect list on MLB Pipeline ahead of the 2025 season, but he reached No. 9 on the 2022 edition, which is packed with big-leaguers by now (Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, you know the drill). He fell down to No. 11 by 2023 and No. 18 last season.
The right-hander's ceiling may have been surpassed by some of the Yankees' recent draftees and international signings, but he showed during a brief big-league cameo that he'll fit in nicely in the Dodgers' middle relief island of misfit toys. Every few days, the Dodgers run a mysterious arm out for a devil-may-care three or four innings, and every few weeks, that arm disappears back into the ether. Gómez, out of options, might not last long in LA unless he makes a shockingly strong first impression.
With Tony Gonsolin en route, though, even that may not be enough to keep him on the roster. After all, in a merit-based world, he probably did more than enough to stay in the Bronx, too. But those are the breaks.
