CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs today agreed to terms with catcher Yan Gomes on a two-year major league contract with a club option for the 2024 season. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Gomes, 34, last season hit .271 (59-for-218) with 11 doubles, nine home runs and 35 RBI in 63 games for the Nationals before he was traded to the Athletics at the deadline in a five-player deal. In 103 games between the clubs, he batted .252 (88-for-349) with 15 doubles, one triple, 14 home runs and 52 RBI, including a .314 mark (38-for-121) with an .890 OPS against left-handed pitching. His 19 baserunners caught stealing tied for second-most in the majors and he limited opponents to a 69.4-percent stolen base rate (43-for-62), the seventh-lowest percentage in the majors.
The six-foot, two-inch Gomes is a career .247 hitter (742-for-3,006) with 158 doubles, 117 home runs and 416 RBI in 882 career games with Toronto (2012), Cleveland (2013-18), Washington (2019-21) and Oakland (2021). The right-handed hitter has recorded double-digit home run totals in seven of his last nine full major league campaigns and owns a career .283 average (254-for-899) with 41 home runs and an .824 OPS against left-handed pitching.
In 813 games behind the plate, Gomes has thrown out 144-of-481 baserunners attempting to steal, good for a 29.5-percent success rate that ranks eighth among active catchers since 2012. His 3.81 catcher’s ERA during that span also ranks eighth among active backstops.
Gomes earned the 2014 A.L. Louisville Silver Slugger Award at catcher after hitting .278 (135-for-485) with 25 doubles, three triples, 21 home runs and 74 RBI in a career-high 135 games for Cleveland. He was named to the 2018 A.L. All-Star Team while with Cleveland and in 2019 was a member of the Nationals World Series title club.
Originally selected by Toronto in the 10th round of the 2009 Draft, Gomes has appeared in 22 career post-season games with Cleveland (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018) and Washington (2019), batting .255 (13-for-51) with four doubles, four RBI and five walks.
