Rio Gomez

Rio Andres Gomez (born October 20, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Wei Chuan Dragons of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

Amateur
Gomez graduated from Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Arizona. He was cut from the varsity baseball team in his senior year. Gomez attended Mesa Community College and walked on to the school's college baseball team. He then transferred to the University of Arizona and played for the Arizona Wildcats baseball team as a walk-on.

Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox drafted Gomez in the 36th round, with the 1,091st overall selection, of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft. He spent his first professional season split between the rookie–level Gulf Coast League Red Sox, and Low–A Lowell Spinners, accumulating a 3.06 ERA across 16 contests. In 2018, Gomez pitched for Lowell and the Single–A Greenville Drive, making a combined 18 appearances and posting a 2.02 ERA with 34 strikeouts across $35 2⁄3$ innings of work.

Gomez split the 2019 season between Greenville and the High–A Salem Red Sox. In 39 appearances out of the bullpen between the two clubs, he registered a cumulative 2.20 ERA with 75 strikeouts and 7 saves across $69 2⁄3$ innings pitched. Gomez did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned to action in 2021, splitting the year between Salem and the Double–A Portland Sea Dogs. In 29 combined appearances, Gomez logged a 3.64 ERA with 60 strikeouts across 47.0 innings of work.

He returned to Portland in 2022 and spent the entirety of the season with the team, appearing in 24 games and struggling to a 6.55 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 33.0 innings pitched. Gomez began the 2023 season with the Portland, and was promoted to the Worcester Red Sox in June. In 26 games (13 starts) between the two affiliates, he recorded a 4.95 ERA with 88 strikeouts in $76 1⁄3$ innings of work. Gomez became a free agent following the season on November 6, 2023.

Wei Chuan Dragons
On February 6, 2024, Gomez signed with the Wei Chuan Dragons of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

International career
Gomez played for the Colombian national baseball team, representing his mother's home country, in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He pitched $1 1/3$ innings of scoreless relief against the Canadian national team, striking out Jacob Robson and Edouard Julien.

Personal life
Gomez is the oldest son of Sandi and Pedro Gomez, a baseball journalist. He has Colombian ancestry through his mother and Cuban ancestry through his father, who passed away in 2021. Pedro Gomez predicted that his son would play for the Colombian national team six years before the 2023 WBC.