Today In Brewer History: Happy Birthday, Carlos Gomez

On this day in 1985 Carlos Gomez was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. He was only 16 when the Mets signed him as an amateur free agent in 2002, and was just 21 when he made his major league debut for New York in 2007.

Gomez wasn't a Met fror long, though, as his original organization sent him to Minnesota in the John Santana deal. Gomez was a Twin for just two seasons before moving again to Milwaukee in the 2009 J.J. Hardy trade. Entering the 2012 season Gomez was still just a .243/.291/.357 hitter, although his defense certainly made up for much of his offensive offensiveness.

2012, though, was easily a career year for Gomez at the plate. He set new career highs with 19 home runs, 37 stolen bases, a .305 OBP and a .463 slugging and posted an OPS+ over 100 for the first time. And, of course, his defense remains exceptional.

Gomez is eligible for a fourth year of arbitration this winter, and will be able to become a free agent a year from now. We didn't always think this would be the case, but the Brewers are really going to miss him if they let him go.

Thanks to the B-Ref Play Index for informing me that Gomez turns 27 today. Today also would have been 1982-83 Brewer manager Harvey Kuenn's 82nd birthday. We covered that event in this space last year.