Former Tennessee and Barry University baseball player Yan Gomes is nearing his return to the Cleveland Indians.
Gomes played a couple of seasons for the Vols starting in 2007 when he played first base and backed up former Toronto Blue Jay and Texas Ranger catcher J.P. Arencibia. He would later start at catcher when Arencibia was injured, and earned Freshman All-America honors that year as he hit .310.
In Gomes’ final year with the Vols in 2008, he earned second team All-SEC, and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 39th round of the draft. However, he chose to attend Barry University instead of the MLB and a return to the Vols. According to an article by Rick Duteau, for Broward High School Baseball, Gomes felt he needed a change from Tennessee, and took a risk by leaving a major program.
However, it paid off as Gomes hit .405 with 21 home runs and 92 runs driven in the 2009 season at Barry. He was then selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 2009 draft.
Gomes made his big league debut in the 2012 season for the Toronto Blue Jays where he once again backed up former Vol J.P. Arencibia. Gomes was traded after 43 games to the Cleveland Indians in a three player deal, and played 88 games in the 2013 season.
He took over the starting spot full time last season, and hit .274 and drove in 74 runs while launching 21 over the wall.
Gomes and the Indians have since fell victim to a Sports Illustrated cover curse — if you believe in that sort of thing.
Is the curse real? #Indians 'threaten' to cancel SI subscription http://t.co/OBXXUR1ByJ pic.twitter.com/8QfcK1mpQZ
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) May 11, 2015
The Cleveland Indians currently set last in their division at 11-20, and a missing Gomes may be a big part of that.
Gomes went down on a play at the plate with Detroit Tigers outfielder Rajai Davis just 5 games into the young season. Gomes was diagnosed with a MCL sprain and projected to be out 6-8 weeks.
It has been a month, and Indians manager Terry Francona recently told reporters that “He’s flying through it (rehab) and continues to do nothing but progress.”
The former Vol is expected to be cleared to begin his rehab assignment in Cleveland’s minor league system sometime this week.