Former outfielder Carlos Gomez put together a solid MLB career. Across 13 seasons, he played for six teams and won a Gold Glove Award while also being selected to two All-Star Games. Now, 38 years old and out of the game, he's looking for different ways to channel that natural competitiveness of his.
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Instead of finding the nearest pickleball court, Gomez is hoping to represent the Dominican Republic in the 2024 Olympics in Paris as a cyclist. Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was the first to report the latest happenings with the former speedy outfielder:
Carlos Gomez is currently training for the Paris Olympics in cycling -- no joke. If he wins a qualifying race in May it sounds like he will have the chance to represent the Dominican Republic in the 500 meters in the velodrome.
With the way he ran the bases, no surprise!
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) February 23, 2024
Rosiak followed this initial post with two more adding context. He said the intensity of his cycling training has made it very easy to lose weight. To keep his weight up, Gomez is eating 7,000 calories per day. Rosiak also said he was doing MMA training but gave it up because of a neck issue, and so he could focus his efforts on cycling.
The best two-year stretch of Gomez's MLB career came with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2013 and 2014. That's when he earned that Gold Glove and both All-Star Game selections. He also earned down-ballot National League MVP Award votes in both years, finishing ninth in 2013 and 16th in 2014.
Across 1,234 plate appearances in these seasons, Gomez hit .284/.347/.491. He averaged 24 home runs, 30 doubles, seven triples, 37 steals, 73 RBI and 88 runs scored. He slugged 20-plus homers with 70-plus RBI and at least 30 steals in each campaign.
It's easy to say that Gomez's Olympic cycling hopes kind of came out of nowhere, but there was some foreshadowing at the end of his MLB career. He hit for the cycle with the Texas Rangers on April 29, 2017, capping the effort with a two-run homer:
This was actually the second cycle of his career. The first one happened on May 7, 2008, with the Minnesota Twins. We'll see soon enough if he can add real-life cycling to his list of athletic accomplishments.
