Moisés Gómez #56

Gómez signed with the Tampa Bay Rays for $40,000 out of Venezuela in April 2015 and spent six seasons across seven years in their system from 2015-2021 before the organization released him on Oct. 21, 2021... the move ended up haunting Tampa Bay after Gómez signed with the St. Louis Cardinals that November and went on to lead the Minor Leagues with 39 homers in 2022... a 2022 MiLB.com Cardinals Organization All-Star, Gómez hit .294 with 39 homers, 94 RBIs, 25 doubles, 10 stolen bases and 89 runs in 120 games split evenly between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis... the 2022 Joe Bauman Award winner also posted his highest average (.294), on-base percentage (.371) and wRC+ (149) since his first pro stint in Rookie ball in 2015; his 94 RBIs, .624 slugging percentage, .995 OPS and 89 runs scored were also career highs... his 39 homers set a Cardinals Minor League single-season record... his April 2022 performance was historic: his first three hits that month were homers and, through his first 21 games of the season, Gómez batted .413 with 14 homers, 29 RBIs and a 1.480 OPS -- since 2005, the start of Minor League record-keeping by MLB, no player had hit more than 12 homers in the first month of the season... Gomez finished the year ranked by MLB.com as the Cardinals' No. 30 prospect... was originally signed as a center fielder but spent the bulk of his 2022 season in right... his best season with the Rays came in 2018 when he hit .280 with 19 homer and 82 RBIs in 122 games for Bowling Green... his average dropped to .220 in 2019 but he still cranked out 16 home runs... did not play in 2020 after the Minor League season was cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic... hit .171 in 2021 with Double-A Montgomery, his last stint with Tampa Bay.