Players

Dario Gomez arrives in Sioux City after a stellar rookie season at Northern Colorado in the Pioneer League. He hit five home runs and stole 10 bases over the last two series of his first pro season to become the first player in Pioneer League history to record a 30-home-run and 30-stolen-base season. Gomez finished the season slashing a line of .345/.449/.693 with 30 home runs and 98 RBI. He would lead the team in long balls and ranked second in RBI on the season. Gomez would tie for the team lead with 30 stolen bases for Northern Colorado. Overall while in the Pioneer League, he would finish third in homers and fourth in RBI, and his 105 runs scored were third most in the circuit. He would finish five runs ahead of teammate Henry George who was signed by Sioux City earlier this offseason. Gomez was counted on to provide some big-time offense in 2024 for Northern Colorado.

Gomez started 2024 hot, hitting five home runs in his first eight games played, but ended the month of July with only 17 home runs. He blasted 12 circuits in August to heat up again before hitting his 30th and final home run in a September 5, 6-5 win over the Rocky Mountain Vibes. The story on the base paths was similar. Gomez had only 12 steals heading into August before doubling that number in the month and stealing six bags in seven games in the first week of September to get to 30 steals. He would add a five-steal game, setting a career-high mark on the last day of the season to land at the 30/30 milestone. In his college career in the NCAA, he would slash .330/.370/.507 in three years of play. He stole just 23 bases over three seasons but stole 28 in his second season of JUCO ball. That made his 2024 season of tearing up the base paths even more impressive for the Owlz. He would finish with the league’s third-best slugging percentage at .693.

Gomez began his college career at San Joaquin Delta College before earning all-Mountain-West honors at the University of Nevada. He would finish his college career at the University of Miami. In Gomez’s final season with the Hurricanes in 2023, the resident of Las Vegas hit .254 in 52 games with a home run and 13 RBI. Miami would make the postseason, hosting the Coral Gables Regional but would not advance to the Super Regional after being eliminated by the University of Texas. The outfielder delivered one of the biggest hits of the Canes season on April 13. Gomez delivered a squeeze bunt in the top of the ninth to lead Miami to a 5-4 comeback win over the University of North Carolina on the road at Chapel Hill. Gomez would transfer from Nevada along with several other players when head coach TJ Bruce left the program to be the associate head coach at Texas Christian University. Bruce would coach a pair of future teammates of Gomez with the Explorers in Kurtis Byrne and Austin Davis who are part of the 2025 roster.

Before announcing his plan to transfer to Miami from the University of Nevada on July 22, 2022, Gomez played 100 games (99 starts) for the Wolfpack over two seasons. He was a career.350 hitter and hit 13 home runs and drove in 88 runs in his two seasons in Reno. In 2022 he would play 55 games and slash a line of .317/.362/.532 with seven round trips and 51 RBI. He would finish second in hits (75), doubles (18) and RBI (51) on the team during the 2022 Nevada season. Gomez added six triples to lead the Mountain West conference for the season. He went 3-for-5 with homer, double, two RBI and two runs scored at Grand Canyon on February 20 and would drive in six runs on three hits, including homer and double, at Air Force on March 4. Gomez added a 4-for-6 game with a triple and three RBI against San José State on March 12. In a series with then No. 2 ranked Oregon State, Gomez went a combined 5-for-10 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored over two games on March 29 and 30. His crowning achievement at the plate in 2022 was hitting for the cycle at UNLV on April 9.  Gomez just missed another cycle on May 6, coming up a homer shy against the University of New Mexico. As the season wound down, Gomez stayed hot, going 3-for-3 with double and two RBI at San Diego State on May 13 and hitting another blast and driving in two runs in win over Fresno State on May 19. He would finish the season on a 12-game hitting streak, batting .420 going 21-for-50 at the plate over that stretch. In the Mountain West Championship tournament, Gomez batted .455, going 5-for-11 over three games, including going 2-for-3 with solo homer in win over UNLV on May 27. Gomez had 22 multi-hit games, including three with at least three hits during a superb 2022 season at Nevada.

In 2021, Gomez was named to the All-Mountain West First Team after starting all 45 games in center field and leading the team in hits with 75. He would lead the team at the plate, hitting .393 and putting together a slash line of .393/.415/.592 on the year. Gomez belted six home runs to go with his 37 RBI, which placed him third on the squad. Gomez would be named the Mountain West Player of the Week on April 12 and would finish the season ranked seventh in the nation in hits per game (1.67) He would go 12-for-15 on the base paths in stolen bases, which was the team lead. In the field he added a .985 fielding percentage, committing just errors on the season while recording 124 putouts and five assists. His 21 multi-hit games would lead the team, including a season-high four hits against Fresno State on March 20. He added another nine multi-RBI games and would led with a 20 game on base streak while his 14-game hitting streak would tie for the team lead. Gomez would club a season and team single-game high eight RBI against Fresno State on March 20. That eight RBI game would tied Gomez for the fifth-most RBI nationally in a single game in 2021.

Gomez spent two years at San Joaquin Delta College before transferring to Nevada and would earn his associates degree. SJDC would win the Big 8 conference title in 2019.Gomez was born in Oakley, California and was a three-year letterwinner at Freedom High School in Oakley. He graduated from Freedom High and was part of a Bay Valley Athletic League championship team in 2017. His Senior season Gomez earned first team all-league honors following the 2018 season. Gomez 25 resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.