Carlos Gomez apparently doesn’t plan on slowing down after his awesome season in 2013.
Last season, the former Twins outfielder burst onto the MLB scene by carrying the Milwaukee Brewers with a .284 batting average, 24 home runs, 73 RBI, 40 stolen bases an a bevy of home-run robbing catches in centerfield. Gomez was good enough last season to finish ninth in the National League vote for Most Valuable Player.
The speedster, who the Twins traded to the Brewers in 2009 for shortstop J.J. Hardy, is off to another good start this season.
In Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves, Gomez took the first pitch of the game and blasted it over the wall in straightaway centerfield.
“I’m always aggressive,” Gomez told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “but it’s not like automatic I’m going to swing on the first pitch. I’m looking in my area where I can do damage. If he throws what I’m looking for, I’m going to swing hard like I did.”
The homer was measured at 420-feet, and in typical Gomez fashion, his home run trot was over and done with in less than 15 seconds. As USA Today put it, Gomez was running around the bases like it was a 400-meter race at the Olympics.
CBS Sports wonders if Gomez, who has sprinted around the bases after hitting home runs before, did so this time to make a statement to the Braves. In a game last season, Gomez nearly ignited a brawl when he stood over home plate admiring a home run ball he launched into the left-centerfield stands. His war of words with Braves catcher Brian McCann and first baseman Freddie Freeman was enough to get both teams off the benches and onto the field, ready to fight.
By the way, Gomez’s sprint around the bases wasn’t his only highlight of the Brewers’ loss to the Braves. USA Today reports that a fan ran onto the field to say hi to fellow outfielder Ryan Braun, but instead got a high-five from Gomez just before security tackled him to the ground.
