Friday 5: Key players who will propel the Cleveland Indians to the top

Yan Gomes

It has been an interesting last couple years for Gomes.

More from Away Back Gone

• Cleveland Guardians tantalizingly close to locking up AL Central tiebreakers
• Cleveland Guardians: Terry Francona becomes meme in profanity-laced ejection
• Say goodbye to defensive shifts and hello to bigger bases, pitch clock in 2023
• Cleveland Guardians: Shane Bieber second-fastest to 800 strikeouts in major-league history
• The next week will make or break the Cleveland Guardians’ season

After joining the Tribe in 2013 as the add-on piece in a deal that landed Mike Aviles in Cleveland, Gomes quickly rose toward the top of the game’s elite backstops. He gunned down 51 would-be base stealers in the last two seasons and hit .284 with a combined 32 home runs.

As one of the only productive right-handed bats in the Tribe’s lineup, Cleveland relies heavily on their young catcher to carry some of the load offensively. After suffering a knee injury that kept him out of the lineup for more than a month, Gomes is back in the Indians lineup and still working to get up to speed. He has just seven hits in 47 at-bats this season (.149 batting average) and is still without a home run. He took a significant step forward earlier this week by catching back-to-back games for the first time since coming off the disabled list on May 24.

When he gets going at the dish – and it’s only a matter of time before he does – the Tribe will add another consistent threat to an offense that has been on again, off again for much of the first two months this season.

Next: Consistency at the hot corner